Retailers in the Irish Republic may be advised by the Food Safety Authority not to stock brands that carry what it regards as misleading GM-free labels.
The move follows a series of surveys by the authority that found a number of products labelled as GM-free did, in fact, contain genetically modified ingredients.
Among these were Cow & Gate Vegetable Casserole for babies, Health Store soya flour, Itona Products Premier Original Biscuit Cake, Direct Food Protoveg Sosmix and Burgamix.
According to the authority’s chief biotechnology specialist, Pat O’Mahony, when the companies involved were contacted, only one, Cow & Gate, agreed to remove the labels. Most of the others did not reply, while one argued that the labelling was justified as the GM ingredients accounted for less than 1% of the total.
“There’s no way you can make that argument,” said O’Mahony. “You’re not obliged to label GM ingredients if they’re under 0.9% of the total, but you can’t claim something is GM-free when it’s not.
“The GM products in question do not pose any risk to health, but it’s a question of providing reliable information so that consumers can choose what they want to buy.”
The authority has already alerted retailers to the situation through an information forum it operates with the trade. “Where issues such as this arise, we prefer working with companies to rectify the situation, rather than resorting to legal enforcement,” said O’Mahony.
But he warned that if further independent tests later this year established that foodstuffs were still being labelled GM-free when they weren’t, then the authority would be advising retailers not to stock the products on the grounds that consumers were being given incorrect information.
The move follows a series of surveys by the authority that found a number of products labelled as GM-free did, in fact, contain genetically modified ingredients.
Among these were Cow & Gate Vegetable Casserole for babies, Health Store soya flour, Itona Products Premier Original Biscuit Cake, Direct Food Protoveg Sosmix and Burgamix.
According to the authority’s chief biotechnology specialist, Pat O’Mahony, when the companies involved were contacted, only one, Cow & Gate, agreed to remove the labels. Most of the others did not reply, while one argued that the labelling was justified as the GM ingredients accounted for less than 1% of the total.
“There’s no way you can make that argument,” said O’Mahony. “You’re not obliged to label GM ingredients if they’re under 0.9% of the total, but you can’t claim something is GM-free when it’s not.
“The GM products in question do not pose any risk to health, but it’s a question of providing reliable information so that consumers can choose what they want to buy.”
The authority has already alerted retailers to the situation through an information forum it operates with the trade. “Where issues such as this arise, we prefer working with companies to rectify the situation, rather than resorting to legal enforcement,” said O’Mahony.
But he warned that if further independent tests later this year established that foodstuffs were still being labelled GM-free when they weren’t, then the authority would be advising retailers not to stock the products on the grounds that consumers were being given incorrect information.
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