Restaurants take GM ingredients off the menu18 September 1999
Most of the UK's top 11 restaurant chains have removed genetically modified (GM) ingredients from their menus, a new survey from Friends of the Earth reveals today. The findings, from companies including Pret-a-manger, McDonald's and Wimpy, are published as new regulations come into force, requiring all catering establishments to tell customers if any food they sell contains DNA from genetically modified soya or maize.
However, the new legislation has loopholes which allow food outlets to supply meals containing GM derivatives without telling customers. FOE's survey reveals that many of the restaurants which say they are free from GM ingredients cannot yet guarantee that they are free from GM derivatives.
The Food Labelling (Amendment) Regulations 1999 will oblige all catering establishments to inform customers of any dish containing DNA from GM soya or GM maize, from 19 September. This needs to take the form of menus being marked to indicate the presence of GM ingredients. This can either be a sentence: "Some of the items on this menu may contain GM ingredients - please ask staff for details." This means an adequate number of staff must be trained to provide this information. Or individual items on the menu should have a label saying: "Contains GM maize or soya".
However, the regulations fall far short of providing comprehensive information for customers seeking to avoid GMOs. Labels do not have to reveal if tomato puree has been gentically modified or cheese containing a GM rennet has been used. They do not cover GM derivatives such as oil (from GM crops) or lecithin made from GM soya because they do not contain DNA. They are unlikely to be adequately enforced as Trading Standards Officers have complained that they do not have the necessary resources to police the regulations.
- Friends of the Earth has been told by the House of Commons caterers that it will not need to label its food as it has had a policy of avoiding GMOs for more than a year.
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