In April 2017 the Finnish Food Safety Authority EVIRA detected non-authorized GM-petunia on the market. Since those petunias had been delivered from Germany and the Netherlands German supervisory authorities took petunia samples at different points of the production chain in Germany for analysis. Confirmed interim results tested various petunia varieties positive for genetic modifications. Genetic elements that were detected by official analyses are P-35S-CaMV, P-nos-RHIRD, T-35S-CaMV, CS-nptII-ECOLX, T-ocs-RHIRD, T-nos-RHIRD and the junctions between the elements P-nos-RHIRD to CS-nptII-ECOLX and from P-35S-CaMV to CS-dfr-MAIZE and from P-35S-CaMV to CS-F35H-PETHY and on to T-nos-RHIRD.

Petunia belong to the genus Solanaceae and originate from South America (temperate to subtropical climate zone). In Central-Europe petunia is a popular ornamental plant. Dissemination and establishment is not recorded in natural ecosystems in Europe. Contrarily to other Solanaceen species in Europe (n=12) petunia carries a chromosome set of n=7 and is not compatible for crossing, therefore. Pollen transfer does not result in crossbreeding to endemic species.
As a result of a preliminary risk assessment of the Central Committee on Biological Safety (ZKBS) it can be said that the here described identified genetically modified petunia pose a neglible risk to humans, animals and the environment.