China: Agricultural Biotechnology Annual

The People's Republic of China (PRC) continues to advance its agricultural biotechnology system for commercial cultivation of domestically-developed genetically engineered (GE) food and feed crops, specifically corn and soybeans. Since the last report, the PRC has taken steps towards commercial cultivation of GE crops, including the issuance of the first batch of GE corn and soybean seed production and operation licenses. Additionally, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) issued two new biosafety certificates and four renewed biosafety certificates for GE crops approved for import as processing materials and approved the country’s first ever gene-edited wheat and corn for domestic cultivation. In September 2024, the PRC announced that genetically modified microorganisms (GMMs) can be used to produce new food raw materials, new varieties of food-related products and new varieties of food additives if the final product does not contain newly introduced gene fragments and GMMs.