It might seem a paradox, but obviously the market wants it: Unilever is now ready with the GMO ice-cream, 50% lower in fats, improved in stability and even having lower production costs.

The secret is the ingredient Ice Structuring Protein (ISP), originally isolated from an Arctic fish and reproduced in laboratory through the fermentation of a genetically modified yeast.

The European Commission has recently granted approval to the ISP, which can therefore be used now - as early as the forthcoming summer - in the 27 EU Countries to make ice creams. The application was made in 2006 by Unilever, which already sells products containing the ingredient in other markets such as the US, Australia and Mexico.

According to Unilever, ISP can help reduce the fat and calorie content of products by up to 50 percent. Its ability to improve the stability of ice cream also allows for a higher fruit content, an improved taste, better structure and slower melting.

EU’s green light is based on EFSA’s favourable opinion in July 2008, which has excluded the risk of allergenicity.

According to Unilever there is no GM residue in the ISP: actually the ingredient is obtained by “inserting a synthetic ISP gene into a genetically modified yeast, and then this is fermented”, Unilever’s external affairs director Anne Heughan explained. “The protein is then separated from the yeast by micro-filtration and concentrated by ultra-filtration. This removes all yeast cells from the ISP preparation. EFSA and the member states have independently confirmed that the ISP is not genetically modified”, she said.

This is contrary to what stressed by the Italian Genetic Rights Foundation, which warns consumers by citing research carried out in 2006 by the Indipendent Science Panel. The survey show that Unilever’s protein is not entirely equivalent to that naturally produced by the Arctic fish. It is even said that it is an allergen, due to its derivation from genetically modified yeast”, said the Foundation’s Nicoletta De Cillis.

The body in charge of “novel foods” approval - the ACNFP -, although approving the ingredient, had proposed mandatory labelling, but the option was excluded by the Commission’s decision.

The most serious matter is actually that the new product will be simply labelled as “ISP protein”, in accordance with the current EU legislation, which doesn’t consider cases like the Unilever one to be regulated as GMOs.