The Organic Food Industry Calls for Improvements to Labelling of Genetically Modified

[S.Annadana]

Thursday 17th July 2008 | 1:05 PM
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A major Australian organic food producer, Pureharvest, located in Drouin West Gippsland is calling on Food Standards Australia and New Zealand to match world's best practice in GM food labelling.

Pureharvest Managing Director Don Lazzaro says "Our clients are demanding comprehensive labeling when it comes to GM food. They want to know where there food is coming from and how it has been produced."

Mr Lazzaro says that GM food awareness has grown dramatically in Australia over the last few years and that this reflects a worldwide trend.

"The current best practice GM food labelling regime is in the European Union which moved on from the current Australian style of regulation some years ago."

"In our view there has been a lack of action on the part of regulators and government in relation to labelling of GM product."

Mr Lazzaro said ‘We want to move to having mandatory food labelling whenever a GM food, or food derived from a GM source, has been used anywhere in the production process, irrespective of the presence of GM material in the final food."

"This means changing the basis of our current system and removing exemptions: for example an exemption is currently provided for highly refined foods where novel DNA and/or novel protein is not evident in the final food - this includes commonly used foods such as GM soybean oil."

"Why should our consumers have to put up with a second best system? Consumers have become more sophisticated and are demanding their right to know what goes into their food".

"They want to know if their chips have been cooked in oil made from genetically modified plants".

Mr Lazzaro has put forward a proposal to vary the Australian and New Zealand Food Standards Code as it relates to labelling of genetically modified [GM] foods under Standard 1.5.2 - Food produced using gene technology.

Don Lazzaro says "The time for change is now. We have overwhelming support from the organic food industry and from many other businesses, representative bodies and individuals. This is an issue which will not go away, and the sooner it is addressed the better."

"We believe that the case for these exemptions has been founded on suiting the needs of producers and industry rather than those of consumers, and that consumer sovereignty has been overridden, with Australian and New Zealand consumers being deprived of information which is vital to them making a fully informed purchasing choice. Overwhelmingly the clearly expressed and consistent wish of the Australian consumer is to have fully comprehensive GM labelling."

Contact:
Don Lazzaro
Managing Director
Pureharvest
35 Lardner Rd, Drouin Vic 3818
Tel: 03 56256100
Fax: 03 5625 4008
Mob: 0419 523 293
Email: don.lazzaro@pureharvest.com.au

Background Information for Media Release

The European Union moved away from their ‘composition of final food' GM labelling regime in 2004 to a new system which requires mandatory food labelling where a GM food or food derived from a GM source has been used anywhere in the production process, irrespective of the presence of GM material in the final food. EU Labelling: Regulation (EC) No. 1830/2003 provides a framework for the traceability and labelling of products containing, consisting of, or produced from genetically modified organisms [GMOs].

The Pureharvest Application seeks to vary the Australian and New Zealand Food Standards Code as it relates to labelling of genetically modified [GM] foods under Standard 1.5.2 -

Food produced using gene technology. Under Food Standard 1.5.2 a food, food ingredient, additive or processing aid which contains novel DNA or protein that has come from an approved GM food must be labelled with the words ‘genetically modified'.

However Pureharvest considers that this definition is not sufficiently comprehensive and provides excessive exemptions. The company seeks to move to the EU model.

In particular Pureharvest considers that the existing exemptions to the labeling requirements for highly refined foods that contain no novel DNA or protein [for example oil made from GM soy beans], for food additives and processing aids, and for food flavours are inappropriate. Pureharvest also proposes that for foods in which GM ingredients are present accidentally the proportion decreed acceptable should be below the current 1%.

The company does not believe that the current blanket exemption of food intended for immediate consumption is appropriate.

Standard 1.5.2

For the purposes of labelling the Standard 1.5.2 defines GM foods as follows:

‘genetically modified food means food that is, or contains as an ingredient, including a processing aid, a food using gene technology which"

a. contains novel DNA and/or novel protein

b. has altered characteristics

but does not include:

a. highly refined food, other than that with altered characteristics, where the effect of the refining process is to remove novel DNA and/or novel protein.

b. a processing aid or food additive, except where novel DNA and/or novel protein from the processing aid or food additive remains present in the food to which it has been added. [Processing aids are used to assist in the processing of raw materials, foods or ingredients - but do not have any function in the final food].

c. flavours present in food in a concentration no more than 1g/kg.

d. a food, ingredient, or processing aid in which genetically modified food is unintentionally present in a quantity of no more than 10g/kg per ingredient.

Food Standards Australian New Zealand, June 2005, GM Foods, Safety Assessment of Genetically Modified Foods, Appendix 3, page 40

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