The EFSA research followed a call from the European Commission after a petition had been lodged to have meat, milk, and eggs from animals that have been fed genetically modified feed labelled. The commission wanted to know if transgenes or their products could be incorporated into animal tissues.

Effect on humans
The study also looked at whether the DNA from GM foods could also be absorbed by humans. The study said that for humans the "recombinant DNA did not survive passage through the intact gastrointestinal tract of healthy human subjects fed GM soya". The study adds that the rapid breakdown of DNA and proteins during digestion reduces the chance of them being absorbed intact into the muscle, milk, or eggs of animals.

"After ingestion, a rapid degradation into short DNA or peptide fragments is observed in the gastrointestinal tract or animals and humans," the report states. "To date, a large number of experimental studies with livestock have shown that recombinant DNA fragments or proteins derived from GM plants have not been detected in tissues, fluids or edible products of farm animals like broilers, cattle, pigs or quails."