The European Union is to lift its five-year moratorium on genetically modified food in a bid to defuse a dispute with America.

The new rules, to be approved by MEPs today, will clear the way for bio-crops to be grown and sold in Europe but also impose tough conditions.

All packets of crisps and biscuits and soft drink sold in supermarkets will have to be labelled as a GM product if it contains 0.9 per cent GM material, even if it comes from derived products and refined oils that no longer contain any DNA trace of genetically modified organisms.