Much has been written and said in recent weeks about the downside of the EU's policy of "zero tolerance" when it comes to importing animal feed that contains traces of non-EU approved GM varieties.
Just last week, EU agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel was urging ministers to "shoulder their responsibilities" and get away from a "ludicrous situation" where desperately needed cargoes of animal protein were being turned away at EU ports for no scientific reason.
NFU president Peter Kendall also raised the issue with supermarket leaders at the IGD conference last week. He urged them to take a lead in explaining GMs to consumers so we do not end up importing meat from parts of the world where livestock are fed on the very crops the EU currently bans.
As expressed previously on this blog, their concerns are entirely justified and the sooner the EU moves away from its zero tolerance policy the better.
But we are where we are, and in one respect at least there is some potential "upside" to zero tolerance - and that is highlighted by the current situation regarding linseed....
This all kicked off about a month ago, when some eagle-eyed German inspectors picked up traces of the unapproved GM variety Triffid (who came up with that as a brand name?!) in a sample of imported linseed.
This led to instant product withdrawals and even the Canadians imposed a voluntary ban on further shipments until such time as they could guarantee them to be GM-free.
Meanwhile, continental buyers, who use linseed in bread and other bakery products, (or crush it for use in paints and linoleum), have sought out alternative supplies, including from the UK. Farmers lucky enough to have grown linseed this year have seen the value of their crop rise 25% in just six weeks to £300/t.
Anti-GM campaigners will no doubt argue that this just goes to show what premiums are available to those member states who keep their crops "pure".
But that does not really stack up. For a start, the recent price hike is likely to be a short-term benefit. The Canadians will soon develop controls to guarantee their linseed is "Triffid-free" and supplies will return to normal.
And second, linseed is a specialist product used in human health foods - it's not a bulk protein essential to feed Europe's millions of cattle, sheep, pigs and chickens.
It's ironic that the zero tolerance policy on GMs is now proving a boon for linseed growers. But that does not make the policy somehow desirable, or even acceptable.
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So the Triffid linseed was de-listed in 2001. Where has it been for the last 8-9 years? Surely not in storage or has traceability so slow that it's still dealing with samples sent for milling years ago?