Failure by EU agriculture ministers to decide on authorisation for three genetically-modified maize and cotton strains overnight left the matter in the hands of the EU executive on Friday.

Poland, which chairs European Union ministerial meetings, said that no deal could be reached "neither for nor against," which sends the applications from companies Dow and Syngenta back to a committee of experts from the 27 EU states.

Syngenta's maize strains are named: Bt11xMIR604xGA21, Bt11xMIR604 and MIR604xGA21.

Dow's cotton strain is named: 281-24-236x3006-210-23.

If the European Commission gives its green light, products containing the strains could be imported into the EU -- home to half a billion consumers -- but the strains themselves may not yet be grown.