Irish consumers are to be told if food products have been genetically modified under a new labelling scheme introduced yesterday by the business and employers' body, IBEC.
The scheme was praised by the head of the Food Safety Authority, Dr Patrick Wall, but was denounced by the Green Party MEP, Ms Nuala Ahern, and the voluntary group, Genetic Concern.
Dr Wall, who attended the event, said the scheme was a commendable first step towards enabling consumers to make an informed choice about a complex issue. However, Ms Ahern said it was a 'consumer con' and Genetic Concern said the form of labelling planned was 'inaccurate and misleading'.
Under the scheme, which is to come into effect this month, products and ingredients derived from genetically-modified soya and maize will be labelled as such. Criticisms centred on the fact that, by IBEC's own admission, some products which do not contain genetically-modified material will have labels indicating otherwise.
This is because the United States, which exports soya and maize products to Ireland, is not required to identify which crops have been genetically modified and which are conventional.
IBEC said the food industry would label all products and ingredients containing protein from this year's US soya and maize harvest as having genetically-modified ingredients.
'This decision was taken on the basis that almost 15 per cent of the US soya harvest will be genetically modified in 1998, and it is likely that some genetically-modified soya and maize will be in every shipment,' it said.
Ms Kathryn Raleigh, of IBEC's food and drink federation, said it had been decided not to use 'may contain' on labels as this was seen to be confusing, and offered 'no meaningful information to the consumer'.
However, Mr Quentin Gargan of Genetic Concern said a 'may contain' label would be more honest. 'On face value, it appears that this labelling initiative has been designed to numb the consumer into believing that many foods are genetically engineered, when in fact only a tiny percentage is affected.'
Ms Ahern said IBEC was accepting the multinationals' tactic of mixing genetic and non-genetic soya and maize, which would result in up to 80 per cent of food product being labelled. It was a 'consumer con' designed to leave the consumer without any choice, she claimed.
The Irish Association of Health Stores welcomed IBEC's decision to label foods known to contain genetically-modified ingredients, but also criticised the fact that the scheme could lead to 'stating an untruth' where it was not certain such ingredients were present.
Dr Wall said research into the use of genetically-modified foods would be going on for some time as it was a complex issue. While there was no such thing as a 'zero risk', the level of risk needed to be communicated to the consumer.
