THE Irish Association of Health Stores has called on the Government to ban the import and sale of genetically modified foods until they are properly labelled.
The association is particularly concerned about the recent arrival in Europe of a US shipment which contains both natural and genetically modified (GM) soya beans.
The chairman of the association, Mr Derek Kelly, said the cargoes had been mixed so it was impossible to avoid GM beans. He said: "What is most worrying ... is that soya is used as an ingredient in over 7,000 food products or 60 per cent of the processed foods we consume today.
These products include bread, biscuits, sausages, chicken nuggets, gravy powder, soups, stock cubes, light cream, dairy spreads and vegetable oil. He said that many consumers - since the BSE scare - now relied on soya products as a major part of their diet, as a alternative to meat and dairy products.
"However, because the EU has accepted that GM soya beans may be imported and sold without any distinguishing label, consumers are not in a position to know whether or not foods contain GM soya and an ingredient and so cannot exercise any discretion," he said.
Mr Kelly said this was an unacceptable and called on the Government, during its presidency of the EU, to insist that this product should be labelled.
Mr Kelly said Austria was seeking to ban the import of GM soya beans, and major food manufacturers such as Nestle and Unilever had also refused to use genetically modified soya beans.