Greenpeace back tofu maker

By SIMON COLLINS

Greenpeace has leapt to the defence of an Auckland tofu maker who is being prosecuted for falsely claiming that his vegetarian sausages were "non-GM".

Greenpeace GM campaigner Steve Abel rang Bean Supreme tofu maker Paul Johnston yesterday to offer help in defending himself against the Commerce Commission.

The commission says the company breached the Fair Trading Act by labelling the sausages as "non-GM" when a Government audit found that 0.1 per cent of their soy content had been genetically modified to resist Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller.

Mr Johnston has since dropped the "non-GM" label and switched from American soy suppliers to an organic source in China.

Mr Abel said it was "extraordinarily unfair" for the Government to prosecute Mr Johnston while it allowed the poultry company Inghams to feed its chickens on soy which was 85 per cent genetically modified to withstand Roundup, according to testing done for Greenpeace.

Food Safety Authority compliance director Geoff Allen said the law required labelling of GM food or drink consumed by humans, but not chicken feed.

Monsanto's Roundup-resistant soy is one of 19 genetically modified foods licensed for use in food by Food Standards Australia New Zealand.