Chefs will try to keep GE food off the tables

By ANNE BESTON environment reporter

Genetically engineered food will not be on the menu in some of Auckland's top eating places if the chefs can help it.

That's the message from eight Auckland chefs and restaurant owners, who will sign a pledge next week to avoid genetically altered ingredients.

"Obviously we are not going to be able to be sure," said Mikano Restaurant manager and chef Judith Tabron.

"All we can do is, if we think something is GM, we won't use it."

The other chefs are Michael Meredith of Otto's, Jeremy Schmidt of Red, David Griffiths of Vinnies, Iain Venner and Takashi Nakamura of Kermadec, Michael James of MJ's and Stephen Thomson of the Sheraton.

Ms Tabron said chefs had been discussing the issue for some time but when she went to give blood and was rejected because of the BSE scare in Britain she decided she was worried enough to act.

"Something like that happens and it gives you a second thought about food. How do we know what the consequences of GM will be? It's 15 years since I was in London.

"I think we should have a choice. It would be okay if we knew what was going to happen but we don't know."

Since February, New Zealand blood banks have rejected donors who were in Britain for more than six months between 1980 and 1996, when BSE-infected beef may have been sold.

The meat is suspected of causing the human equivalent of mad cow disease called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.

Vinnies owner David Griffiths said one of the aims of the chefs' campaign was to support local organic growers in the boutique food market.

"In a restaurant like Vinnies you're always going for top quality anyway, rather than quantity. We want the best-quality ingredients from local growers and this is one way of supporting them."

GE food is becoming harder to avoid. Surveys show that popular sweets, sauces and even baby foods contain modified ingredients.

Herald Online feature: the GE debate

GE lessons from Britain

GE links

GE glossary