In the EU, products of various genetically modified soy bean and canola lines are approved for processing in food and feed, but not for cultivation. In the US and Canada, but also in other countries cultivation of GM soy beans and canola is allowed.

The rapeseed variety as well as the variety of soy beans is modified to be resistant against the herbicide glyphosate. The plants have shown to be highly resistant: Ten years after their sowing, their offspring can still be detected on proving grounds. Since the long-term effects of this genetic modification are unpredictable, the sowing throughout Europe has not been authorised yet. This mainly concerns the rapeseed variety as it is – unlike soy – cultivated in Europe. As early as 2005, scientists in the UK warned that genetically modified rapeseed could decimate the bee and butterfly population.