Gansu tightens GM food restrictions

Gansu province stepped up restrictions on selling genetically modified (GM) food on Saturday.

A new provincial food safety supervision regulation stipulated that GM food must be sold in exclusive areas or counters without other food, to ensure consumers' rights to be informed and to choose.

Gansu's beefed-up restrictions on GM food are the first of their kind in the country, said Wang Qingbang, deputy head of the provincial food and drug safety watchdog.

Wang noted that the sale of GM food in different markets in the city did not see much fluctuation after one-month-long trial before the regulation kicked in.

A heated discussion regarding consumers' rights to be informed on GM food was sparked when Cui Yongyuan, a renowned former TV host brought up the question and traveled to the US to shoot a documentary collecting overseas opinions on GM food late last year.