The European Union's executive branch said the strain, known as A2704-12 and developed by German group Bayer Cropscience, had won a "positive safety assessment" from the European Food Safety Authority.

The authority found in August 2007 that the soybean "is unlikely to have any adverse effect on human and animal health or on the environment".

GM foods and other products are a hot-button issue in Europe where there is broad public suspicion of their safety and deep divisions among the 27 EU governments about how to regulate them.

The European Commission said that "any products produced from this GM soybean will be subject to the EU's strict labelling and traceability rules".