Russia is the latest country to feel the effects of negative consumer feelings towards the consumption of genetically modified foods. The mandatory labelling of genetically modified food was introduced in Russia on 1 September, 2002, the Russian Health Ministry's state sanitary and epidemiological department (Gossanepidnadzor) told the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS this week.

The report continues that inscriptions on the packing should provide comprehensive information that indicate to the buyer that a certain product contains genetically modified components.

Less strict than Europe, where any food product made from a GM crop must be labelled as such proposals, food goods that contain less than five per cent of such components will be exempted from the labelling rule.