GMOs not to be found in food ?

Are foodstuffs sold on the European market made with ingredients containing GMOs ? Do the labels mention the use and/or presence of GMOs ?

Four years after a first study on that matter, another study supported by the European Commission was conducted in 4 countries : Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
A total of 250 products were tested, among which 50 were bought in Belgium, 50 were bought in Portugal and in both, Spain and Italy 75 products were bought. As far as possible, the choice was set on products containing soy and/or maïze or where soy and/or maïze were the main element.
Here are the most salient results :
• In 14 of the 50 Belgian samples (as compared to 6 in 53 samples in 1998), the use of GMOs could not be revealed due to the absence of DNA in the products. This does not necessarily mean that no genetically modified material was used in the production process. By the way, the label of one product does mention – although not quite straightforwardly – the presence of soy protein derived from the biotechnological industry ("op basis van moderne biotechnologie" – i.e. "on basis of modern biotechnology").
• None of the remaining Belgian samples seemed to contain GMOs (4 dubious samples were found in the former study). These results confirm those of the Belgian Federal Agency for Food Safety (83 samples tested in 2001).
• In the other countries, the tested products did not contain genetically modified maïze either. On the other hand, the products containing genetically modified soy were fewer than 4 years ago : 1 in Spain and 5 in Portugal. Despite its totally deceiving label, the Spanish sample was the only to contain almost exclusively transgenic soy. The Portuguese products were rather victims of so-called contamination, as the values found were lower than 1%.