Monitoring the Occurrence of Genetically Modified Maize in Serbia from 2006 to 2008

Abstract

A Serbian government introduced a labeling system for products which contained genetically modified organisms (GMO) with threshold of 0.1% for grain and 0.9% for food and feed. In order to detect the presence of GM maize in the Serbian market, a triplex PCR was applied to maize grains and processed maize samples. In total 145 samples, 125 samples of maize seed and 25 processed maize were analysed in tree years period. The number of positive samples varied from 12% in 2006 year, to 14.5% in 2008. The estimated amounts of GM maize using Real Time PCR in 17 samples ranged between 0.1% and 0.9%, for most of them 0.2% or 0.3%. In two maize seed samples GMO content was higer than gt 0.9%, in 2006. Obtained results showed that maize seed has been contaminated with GM seed but in most cases under labeling treshold. Monitoring for transgenic crop plants is necessary, especially in cases, like in Serbia, when the crop has not been approved for release into the environment.