Presence of genetically modified maize and soy in food products sold commercially in Brazil from 2000 to 2005

Qualitative and quantitative polymerase chain reaction-based methods to detect genetically modified soy (RoundupReady™ soy) and maize (Bt176 Maximizer™ maize, Bt11 maize, MON810 YieldGard™ corn, T25 LibertyLink™ maize) were applied to processed foods sold commercially in Brazil. From 2000 to 2005, 100 food products containing maize and 100 food products containing soy were analysed every single year. The presence of genetically modified soy increased steadily from 13% in 2000 to 78% in 2005. The number of food products containing genetically modified soy in a proportion above 1.0% on the ingredient level, the threshold for labelling according to Brazilian legislation, increased from 11% in 2000 to 36% in 2005. No clear trend was found within maize containing food products. Eight to eleven percent were shown to consist of material derived from genetically modified maize and 4–6% were found to contain more than 1% of genetically modified maize.