Unlike most households, Vegemite toast is no longer a staple at chef Jared Ingersoll's place. The jar has gone to the back of the cupboard. Owned by the US company Kraft, the nation's favourite spread may contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients. Likewise, Australia's favourite chocolate treat, the Caramello Koala.
Both have been given a ''red light'' by the Truefood Guide, an annual consumer guide by Greenpeace to be published on Tuesday. The Guide earmarks commonplace foods that either contain GM ingredients or whose manufacturers refuse to provide transparent information regarding the origin of ingredients. Other ''red lights'' include Smith's Crisps, Kellogg's K-Time Twists, Baker's Delight breads, Naytura cereals, Birds Eye fish fingers and Ingham's chicken nuggets.
''Green lights'' have been awarded to companies including Sanitarium, the makers of Weet-Bix, Schweppes Cottee's Cordial, Heinz baby food, and Goodman Fielder, the bakers of Wonder White and Mighty Soft breads.
Ian Greenshields, director of corporate affairs at Goodman Fielder, says the company implemented a non-GM policy in reaction to consumer concern. "Across all of our brands we've found that consumers are mistrustful of GM ingredients in their food," he says.
Consumer interest was also the impetus for the Truefood Guide's focus on foods marketed at children, after they were inundated with enquiries from concerned parents following Truefood Australia's detection of GM ingredients in S-26 soy infant formula last September.
Laura Kelly, the genetic engineering team leader at Truefood Australia, says theGuide gives parents information that labels don't. "In the absence of mandatory labelling, theGuide helps parents make informed choices."
Ingersoll will launch the guide with fellow chef Peter Gilmore of Quay and the Wiggles' Murray Field. All are concerned about the lack of transparency in food labelling, opinions they made known to the recent Independent Review of Food Labelling Law and Policy. "The refusal to label all foods that contain GM ingredients means our options are removed," Ingersoll says. "We need to have the opportunity to make informed choices for our kids."
His concerns have fallen on deaf ears. The review received 6486 submissions from consumers. Chaired by the former health minister Neal Blewett, it did not recommend mandatory labelling of foods that contain GM ingredients, a requirement already mandatory in Britain, France and Germany.
The approval and labelling requirements of foods containing GM ingredients is the responsibility of Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). In November last year Senator Nick Xenophon and the Greens senator Rachel Siewert introduced a bill to Parliament that would require FSANZ to implement mandatory labelling of food containing GM material.
"This is an area where consumers are being deliberately left in the dark," Mr Xenophon says. "The labelling requirements for GM need to be completely overhauled and tough new standards need to be enforced."
FSANZ relies on information provided by the applicant to assess the safety of a food product. It says that manufacturer self-regulation of this nature is in line with international standards, namely the principles of the United Nations' food regulatory arm, the Codex Alimentarius Commission (the Codex), of which Australia is a member.
However, like the US government's food regulatory authorities, FSANZ seemingly overlooks the Codex's standards for labelling prepackaged foods, which clearly state that labelling should include "any special requirements to ensure that the consumer is not deceived or misled about the nature of the food".
A recent Auditor-General's report found FSANZ's analysis of data supplied by manufacturing companies lacking. The FSANZ chief scientist, Dr Paul Brent, when asked if FSANZ undertakes scientific testing of products, replied: "No, in order to get an approval the applicant supplies us with information from which we make an assessment."
Ms Kelly at Truefood Australia says the system is not good enough. "Relying on data supplied by the manufacturer is hardly robust regulation."
On Thursday Forbes writer Glenn Lammi called individuals concerned about GM ingredients "foodie elite" and "Luddite activists".
Mr Xenophon disagrees. "This is an issue that transcends ideological fault lines. Many consumers would prefer not to eat GM products, but right now they don't have a choice."
Ms Kelly agrees. "All we ask is to prove that it is safe, and label it," she said.
SMH
