Tory anger over food labelling

23 July 1999

Tory anger over food labelling

THE Conservative party is complaining about the governments decision to limit debate on the Food Standards Bill, which sets up a new food safety watchdog.

MPs are angry that there was not have enough time to call for tighter food labelling laws to ensure the country of origin of all major ingredients would be revealed.

Tim Yeo, the Conservative spokesman on food and agriculture, said the Food Standards Agency would do little to improve the scrutiny of imported food.

He called for all products to carry a full list of ingredients, including those which are genetically modified.

Mr Yeo said rules governing the labelling of genetically modified (GM) products were “heavily deceitful”.

A threshold of 3% “tolerance” for GM ingredients in food was unacceptable because it was technically possible to identify them much more accurately.

• The Independent 23/07/99 page 8
  
• The Daily Telegraph 23/07/99 page 12