Australia to get tough on GM labelling
By Boyd Champness
AUSTRALIAN and New Zealand health ministers are expected to approve a hardline labelling regime for genetically modified foods even with minute traces of GM ingredients.
According to an article in The Age newspaper last week, all packaged GM food will have to be labelled and wholly modified foods will have to be identified in the brand name.
The article said “sources” had confirmed the 10 Australian and New Zealand health ministers have reached agreement on nearly all points.
Processed foods will need their GM components clearly marked – for example, genetically modified soyabean paste – in the ingredients list.
Foods containing a number of GM ingredients may use an asterisk, with an explanation at the bottom of the ingredient list that the asterisk refers to genetic modification.
GM fresh fruit and vegetables, which are expected to reach the market within five years, will also need to be labelled, the newspaper said.
But unlike the United Kingdom, restaurants and take-away outlets will not have to declare that their cooked foods contain GM ingredients, only having to provide information if asked.
But the tougher stance means all processed foods will need to be labelled no matter how little their GM content.
This overturns previous discussions within the Australian New Zealand Food Authority, which initially called for threshold levels of GM content to be reached before processors were required to label.
Ministers are expected to recommend three varying degrees of labelling for foods that dont or may contain GM materials.
Processors will be allowed to advertise their products as “GM-free” if they can prove this to be the case but face prosecution if their products are found to contain GM materials.
The next level would be “sourced from non-genetically modified materials” or something similar.
Manufacturers using this label would be expected to act “with due diligence” to either know the sources or their ingredients, or use an identity preservation trail, in which ingredients are certified as GM-free from seed to plate.
Finally, ministers are also likely to allow manufacturers to use a label such as “may contain genetically modified ingredients” if they are unsure.
Under this scenario, manufacturers would have to show that theyve made every attempt to determine whether their ingredients have come from GM crops.