For the first time ever, requests for authorisation of GM products for import into the EU will go before an appeals committee. Authorisation to import genetically modified (GM) soybeans by agrochemical giants Bayer CropScience and Monsanto will be decided by a GMO appeal committee after regulators could not reach an agreement over the proposals on Tuesday.

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The Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health could not achieve a majority for either approving or rejecting Bayer’s new biotech soybean or renewing permission for Monsanto to import a biotech soybean of its own. Both beans have been genetically modified to be resistant to herbicide.

A spokesperson for Monsanto said the company remained optimistic despite the setback. Kelli Powers said, "The lack of a committee decision does not impact trade and we remain confident that in due course the renewal will be issued. We expect that a positive renewal decision will result in time."

As a GMO appeals committee has never before been convened, its precise make-up has yet to be decided. However, the EU said in a statement on Tuesday that the appeals committee would examine the beans’ files within the next six weeks and reach a decision before the end of the year.

Although only two GM crops are authorised for commercial cultivation in Europe, 43 have been passed for import. 95 per cent of all soya imports into the bloc are genetically modified; each year in the UK, an estimated 146,000 tonnes of GM soya and 290,000 tonnes of GM maize is imported for use in animal feed.

In its 2007 report Silent Invasion the Soil Association revealed that "nearly all the milk, dairy products, pork and red meat... sold in UK supermarkets are now being produced from animals fed on genetically modified crops."