India hopes to enter the European market with non GMO soybeans

Lead: [India wants to enter the European market with non GM soybeans] London, May 21 (Reuters) - Indian soybean meal producers hope to take advantage of European concerns about GM crops after fears of mad cow disease shook consumer confidence, an Indian delegation said on Monday The delegation, funded by SopA, has met with trade officials from Italy, Spain, France and Germany, the Netherlands and the UK to try to show that buyers in these countries are convinced that Indian soybean meal is different from other countries' products and is non GMO "Don't worry about transgenic soybean meal in China "David Jane, head of the delegation and group chief executive of prestige group, told a group of UK industry officials "India does not have any genetically modified products We do not import genetically modified soybeans, and India encourages domestic production of non genetically modified products "There is growing concern in Europe about genetically modified food, especially after the outbreak of BSE and FMD Many governments have begun to strengthen the control of imports Buyers need manufacturers to provide certificates to show that the products are non GM and can provide traceability to ensure that they are not contaminated by GM products "We are likely to continue to offer only non GMO Products in the next few years, if we are sure that this will pay off handsomely to farmers," Jane said "Some South American countries, such as Argentina, may say they can also provide non GM soybean meal, but they are also planting GM soybeans," he said Following the outbreak of BSE in Europe, soybean meal has become more and more important in Europe This is because the outbreak of BSE led to the prohibition of meat based feed, because scientists believe that meat and bone meal is the cause of BSE Many consumers say they prefer animals fed non GM feed "Soybean meal is an important component of livestock and poultry feed, and there is no health risk "Jane said he added that there will be no FMD in the following years Since the outbreak of FMD in February last year, this highly contagious disease has brought a devastating blow to British agriculture "After using its non GMO soy products to enter the Southeast Asian market, India is eager to push these products into the European market "India mainly supplies soybean meal to Asian market, but also exports 56000 tons of soybean meal to France in 2000 Jane said that India exports between 2.5 million tons and 3 million tons of soybean meal every year China feed industry information network