Italian politicians, farmers and environmentalists expressed outrage Tuesday at a European Union decision to allow producers to label some GMO-contaminated foods as 'organic'.
The EU Council of Agriculture Ministers decided to set an accidental-contamination threshold of 0.9% for organic produce.
This means products can be legally sold as 'organic', even if they have a GMO content, so long as it is less than 0.9%.
The 0.9% threshold is the same as that already applied to conventional foods - any products whose GMO-content is higher must be clearly marked.
Italy, Belgium, Hungary and Greece were against extending this limit to organic food, but they were outvoted by the other EU member states.
"The Council of Agriculture Ministers' decision is wrong and damages both organic producers and the rights of consumers," said Italian Environment Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio.
"We must see at once what countermeasures the Italian government and parliament can take to protect producers and consumers who want to be sure they are buying GMO-free products".
Italy is home to Europe's biggest organic-food market and its producer associations have been among the most active in lobbying against the move.
Italy was in favour of a 0.1% accidental-contamination threshold in organic foods - a level which is considered 'technical zero'. That position was backed by the European Parliament in a vote in March.
"The Council of Agriculture Ministers has thrown the right of European consumers to consume GMO-free foods into doubt," said Federica Ferrario, the head of Greenpeace Italia's GMO campaign.
"The permissive attitude towards contamination taken by the European Commission and some EU member states ignores the demands of European consumers and threatens the whole organic sector".
Sergio Marini, the head of Italy's top farmers' association Coldiretti, blasted the EU decision, claiming it will destroy the public's faith in organic produce.
He also accused Agriculture Minister Paolo De Castro of being "ambiguous" about GMOs by authorizing limited biotechnology experiments with traditional Italian products like wine and olive oil.
"If you are not coherent at the national level you cannot build credible alliances at the European level, where it is widely acknowledged that voting against something is not enough," Marini said.
Former agriculture minister Gianni Alemanno of the rightwing National Alliance (AN) party called on the government to take "drastic measures", including applying a zero-tolerance threshold in the national law for organic foods.
"I hope that De Castro will not resign himself to accepting this decision," Alemanno said.
"This is a massive blow for Italy, which is a world leader in agriculture and in organic produce, and it will have highly negative effects on consumers," he added.
Minister De Castro said the government had done everything it could to block the decision and insisted it had "nothing to reproach itself for".
