'Non-GM' sausages fail food test

By SIMON COLLINS science reporter

An Auckland tofu maker, who is opposed to genetic modification, is being prosecuted for falsely claiming that his vegetarian sausages were "non-GM".

An audit by the Food Safety Authority last year found that 0.1 per cent of the soy in the meat-, dairy- and gluten-free sausages made by Penrose-based Bean Supreme had been genetically modified to withstand Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller.

Bean Supreme owner Paul Johnston said soy was only 2 per cent of the material in the sausages, so the GM soy was only 0.002 per cent, or one part in 50,000, of the total sausages.

Unintended trace amounts of the GM product up to 1 per cent of the ingredient are legal in New Zealand.

But Commerce Commission communications adviser Gail Kernohan said the commission decided to prosecute because the label on the sausages claimed that they were "non-GM".

The case was called in the Auckland District Court last Thursday and was adjourned until November 27. Mr Johnston, who employs 16 people, has yet to enter a plea.

"If a guilty plea means we do not have to defend it and do not have to pay costs, we'll probably go that way," he said.

"The Commerce Commission recently took another labelling case to court, not involving GM, and it cost [the defendants] $30,000 and they still lost. I don't think we can afford to do that."

He said he dropped the "non-GM" label from the sausages in February after the audit picked up the trace GM product.

He also stopped buying soy from the United States, where most soy is genetically modified. He now buys soy directly from an organic supplier in China.

The audit did not find any GM material in Bean Supreme's other soy products, which include soy milk, tofu, tofu luncheon and vegetarian burgers.

But its overall audit of 117 samples of foods containing soy or maize made or imported by many companies found GM traces in 18 samples (15 per cent).

Soy and maize account for 81 per cent of the world's GM crops.

Other products in which GM traces were found included corn chips (7 cases), soy-based infant formulas (4), pork luncheon (2), sandwich ham (1) and meat sausage (1).

All traces were under 1 per cent and were not labelled as GM-free, and were therefore legal.

The audit also found a fermented soy bean curd in which 68 per cent of the soy had been genetically modified to withstand Roundup. Food Safety Authority compliance director Geoff Allen said the offender was a small Asian importer who immediately withdrew the product and the authority decided not to prosecute.