HERALD SUN http://www.news.com.au/headlines/ Gene food chaos By MICHELLE COFFEY 10mar99 HUNDREDS of illegal "mutant" foods could soon appear on supermarket shelves throughout Australia. Baby food, bread, cheese, margarine and potato chips are among an estimated 500 everyday items containing genetically modified (GM) ingredients imported from North America and Europe. Under new standards, GM food must be tested and declared safe by Australia's food watchdog by May 13. But a month-long Herald Sun INSIGHT investigation has found only two of the 56 GM ingredients used by Australian food manufacturers have been approved by the Australia New Zealand Food Authority. In a move that could cause chaos in the $43billion food industry, the ANZFA concedes the products will have to be stripped from shelves after May 13. And proposed laws under which all GM food would have been labelled look set to be overturned, leaving consumers with no way of knowing what they are eating. The nation's peak food industry group claims GM food poses no risks. "These products may technically be in breach of the law, but the foods would not be on shelves if they were not safe," said Food and Grocery Council chief Mitch Hooke. But the Australian Consumers Association's Carole Renouf said: "Gene technology is too new to know what, if any, long-term health and environmental consequences there are." The issue has polarised Britain recently, with three major supermarket chains refusing to stock GM food. And it is set to intensify in Australia when the first full-scale public debate begins in Canberra today. As a 14-member "citizens' jury" meets to discuss the pros and cons of genetic modification, an INSIGHT investigation has discovered: MORE than 70 per cent of Australians want every product containing GM ingredients labelled. FRANKLINS has become the nation's first major supermarket chain to audit every product in its 240 stores for GM ingredients - and will label accordingly. BAKED beans giant Heinz Wattie's will test its hundreds of ingredients by June for GM organisms, or GMOs. HEALTH food company Australian Natural Foods will be the first manufacturer to have its entire range labelled "GM-Free" by the end of the year. SANITARIUM - which has been forced make its best-selling So Good soy milk GM-free - has introduced a policy that will track raw materials from paddock to plate. $26MILLION of canola - Australia's largest ever shipment - was sold to Europe in January because we have the only guaranteed GM-free canola left in the world. MELBOURNE will host the world's Food and Agriculture Organisation conference in October - the first time it will be held outside Europe. With more than 60 per cent of processed foods believed to contain GMOs, the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Council last August agreed to new standards to ensure the safety of GM foods. State and territory health ministers and their New Zealand counterpart gave companies that import crops such as soya beans and canola nine months to apply to ANZFA for approval. Last month the authority approved Australia's first two GM ingredients - Ingard cottonseed and Roundup Ready soybeans. Made by the world's leading biotech company, US giant Monsanto, the soybeans are resistant to the Roundup herbicide. The locally grown cottonseed produces its own "natural" pesticide, a protein that kills certain insects. Monsanto has four more applications before ANZFA. But the Herald Sun discovered AgrEvo - one of the world's biggest producers of GM canola - had not even applied to ANZFA. Canola is used in most margarines, cooking oils, frozen chips and mayonnaise. The head of AgrEvo's Australian biotechnical division, Greg Fraser, admitted it was very unlikely his company would have ANZFA approval by May 13. "We cannot legally sell those products now and that means we won't be able to support the use of our products by food manufacturers in Australia," Mr Fraser said. Victorian Health Minister Rob Knowles revealed there were another 50 GM ingredients used in up to 500 products that had not applied. "This highlights just how difficult the whole GM debate can become," Mr Knowles said. "All the advice available to me is there are no public health risks associated with the use of gene technology provided they have been scientifically regulated. But by the same token we don't want to send a message to manufacturers that our new laws are optional." Mr Knowles also revealed a decision by health ministers in December to label all GM food looked set to be overturned because it was unworkable. ANZFA had originally recommended only GM food which was substantially different from the normal variety should be labelled. But, in a surprise decision, ministers split 6-4 in favor of labelling all GM food. Where manufacturers were unsure whether foods contained GMOs, a "may contain" label would have to be affixed - a decision Mr Knowles said was meaningless. ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
