Niu Dun, then vice-minister of agriculture, is surrounded by reporters during the Two Sessions on March 4, 2014. [Photo/IC]

GM food safe to eat

Genetically modified (GM) food is safe to eat as long as it has received a safety certificate from the agricultural authority, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Niu Dun, a CPPCC member and former vice-minister of agriculture, said in a report by Beijing News that no food can be proven to be 100 percent safe, so experiments and data are needed to evaluate the safety of GM food.

A safety certificate would indicate that a certain kind of GM food is edible. However, producers have to label their products to guarantee consumers' rights to know and choose, said Niu, who was newly appointed as China's permanent representative to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.