“This is the fifth time that we had the pleasure to organize GMO-free Weeks and we are thoroughly proud that once more nearly all Austrian retailers participated in this special 2-weeks promotion and information campaign,” says Florian Faber, Managing Director of ARGE Gentechnik-frei, the platform behind Austria’s “Produced without GMOs” label.
Retailers like REWE (with their brands BILLA and PENNY), SPAR (INTERSPAR, EUROSPAR Gourmet SPAR), and HOFER (Aldi), along with Denn’s BioMarkt, Lidl, and wholesalers Metro and Transgourmet, all took part. During the campaign, Non-GMO products were highlighted in-store with promotional signage, shelf labels, and even tasting stations. All the participating stores ran campaigns about the different qualities of Non-GMO food on their social media channels and in their bi-weekly flyers, distributed all over Austria. Some also wrote about the benefits of Non-GMO in their internal communication (on their intranet and staff newsletters). As Faber puts it: “Consumers witness a strong information and promotion focus on Non-GMO products during this time… All promotion activities are combined with thorough information of the consumers on the backgrounds of Non-GMO quality production.”
The scope of Non-GMO products in Austria is impressive. The label covers animal-derived products like dairy, eggs, poultry, pork and beef, as well as a growing range of processed foods: “Beer, Schnaps / liquor, bakery products, noodles and sweets. Even deep-frozen products such as pizza, baguettes and vegetables can be purchased in Non-GMO quality.”
A Label Born from Public Demand
Austria was the first country in the world to develop a labelling and certification system for Non-GMO food — and it was citizen demand that sparked the move.
“In 1997, more than 1.23 million people signed a referendum against the use of GMOs – that’s one fourth of the voting population, the second most successful referendum in Austria ever,” says Faber. That public pressure led to an unrivalled multi-stakeholder cooperation between retailers, food producers, farmer associations, environmentalists, and consumer groups. “The first ever Non-GMO production and certification standard was developed and published in spring 1998 – and already in fall 1998 we witnessed the first products with the green label ‘Produced without GMOs’ – bread and bakery products, at that time.”
ARGE Gentechnik-frei was founded to develop and manage the certification system and advocate for Non-GMO production. “From the very beginning the major Austrian retailers, SPAR and REWE, demanded and consequently supported Non-GMO products from their suppliers – and thus created a significant market request.”
Equally important were Austria’s “committed pioneer producers and food processors,” who led the shift to certified Non-GMO production. “They gave a clear signal that change towards Non-GMO not only was technically possible – but also brought good revenue on the market.”
Consumers Recognise and Trust the Label
For Austrian consumers, Non-GMO has become an important part of their food choices. “There are more than 6,800 food products using the Non-GMO label in the shelves; all Austrian retailers, without any exception, have Non-GMO products in their portfolio.”
Entire sectors have been transformed. “The complete dairy sector (since June 2010), the entire egg market (since September 2010) and all poultry meat (since March 2012) is Non-GMO.”
And the label carries real weight with the public. “In market research from September this year, 76.6% of all interviewees say that Non-GMO production is an important purchasing motive for them. 60.9% say that they are prepared to pay a higher price for Non-GMO food products.”
Perhaps most telling: “76.6% of all consumers classify the Austrian Non-GMO label as trustworthy or very trustworthy. That’s a top rating in Austria – number two amongst all food labels in the category of credibility.”
Faber adds: “In the last 10-15 years, in market research Non-GMO production always ranked in the top range of purchasing motives mentioned by consumers – always on a comparable level with criteria such as freshness, good price/performance ratio, regional products, fair trade, produced in Austria and free of pesticides.”
A Warning on Deregulation
While Austria’s Non-GMO sector thrives, EU-level proposals to deregulate New GMOs or New Genomic Techniques (NGTs), respectively are raising concerns.
Faber is clear: “The urge to abolish all transparency, traceability and labelling for NGTs is not comprehensible for the major parts of the Austrian food sector – because this counteracts all standards that have been set up for quality food production and other production areas.”
He warns that without labelling and traceability, “new and very complex efforts would have to be installed throughout the value chains to keep them free from NGTs – which is, as you can imagine, a highly complex endeavour when traceability and labelling have been abolished on purpose.”
ARGE Gentechnik-frei is calling on EU institutions to preserve existing safeguards. “Transparency, traceability and labelling are the key demands that need to be respected during this European decision-making process. This is fully supported by all players of the Austrian food value chain – from farmers to commodity traders, food processors and retailers.”
Austria – a Model For Other Countries?
Austria’s approach didn’t happen by accident — and Faber believes other EU countries could follow suit.
“Well – a key factor is to convince the retailers that Non-GMO production is a strong and also very emotional factor for consumers. In Austria – and to my knowledge also in other European countries like e.g. Germany, Italy or France – retailers have played an important part in opening and widening the Non-GMO markets.”
He also emphasises the importance of institutional backing. “It is of high importance to create a platform or an organisation such as ARGE Gentechnik-frei in Austria or VLOG e.V. in Germany – that coordinates all the work of handing out the label, and that acts as a strong ambassador for Non-GMO products in the media, towards regulators and also in the market.”
Looking ahead, Faber sees new opportunities. As more plant species might be affected by New GMOs (NGTs), demand for transparent labelling could grow beyond animal-derived products. “We could see an interesting shift in the market here.”
Austria’s success shows that with the right mix of public engagement, strong retailer support, and clear labelling, a trusted Non-GMO market is not only possible — it's popular, profitable, and exportable.
Find out more about ARGE Gentechnik-frei and Austria’s GMO-Free Weeks
Read more about the recent market research from ARGE into NGTs