A welcome new GM food code

7 September 2001

New industry guidelines have been set up by the Food and Drink Federation and the British Retail Consortium on how to avoid accidentally introducing GM ingredients into food products. This good news is diluted by the fact we still lack a strong enough EU law on the labelling of products containing GM material - consumers should be told if their food contains any GMOs.

Under European law any product containing more that one per cent GM material must be labelled as containing GMOs. Friends of the Earth says this is inadequate and that products containing any detectable levels of GMOs must be labelled.

Pete Riley, senior food campaigner at Friends of the Earth said: "British consumers have made it perfectly clear they want GM-free food. They should be told if products contain any detectable levels of these unwanted ingredients. The current labelling laws are far too weak and allow the biotech industry to introduce GMOs into our food by stealth."

Friends of the Earth also warned that special attention needs to be given to seed and food crops to avoid accidental contamination. Separation distance between GM and non-GM crops are woefully inadequate and don't reflect the distances pollen can travel when carried by insects or wind.

Pete Riley continued: "The current proposals for keeping seed and food crops free from GM
contamination are pathetic. Unless separation distances between GM and non-GM crops are greatly increased widespread contamination is inevitable. If the biotech industry can't guarantee that their GM crops won't contaminate conventional crops then they shouldn't be allowed to grow them."

Get these updates first

If you would like these news updates to be emailed to you as soon as they come out, then join our real food mailing list.
Register Here

News