Strict guidelines spell end of GM-free product claims

By SIMON COLLINS

New Zealand is unlikely to see claims of GM-free food after strict draft guidelines issued by the Commerce Commission yesterday.

The new draft reaffirms the commission's longstanding policy that any claim that a product is "GM-free" will breach the Fair Trading Act if it contains any trace of genetically modified products, or if any of its components have been made by a process involving genetic modification.

Food and Grocery Council director Brenda Cutress said most food manufacturers would respond by simply not taking the risk of claiming their products were GM-free.

"It's very, very complex making sure, for the hundreds of thousands of ingredients that get used in food manufacturing, that nowhere in that supply chain has GM been involved," she said.

But she said the commission had always taken the same "absolute stance", so GM-free claims were already rare.

"What this paper does is create some certainty, and that's always a good thing."

Commerce Commission chair Paula Rebstock said the paper would feed into joint transtasman guidelines to be approved by the commission and Australia's Competition and Consumer Commission.

The paper proposes that "GM" should mean not just a detectable trace of GM products but any ingredients that were made by GM processes.

"Foodstuffs produced from GM soya or maize may contain neither protein nor DNA resulting from genetic modification in their final form," it says.

"For example, lecithin, a commonly used emulsifier made from soya, would contain no detectable levels of GM.

"This would also be the case for many of the refined cooking oils."

Testing for GM can be difficult but evidence can also be gathered through examining production records, correspondence and other documentation, enabling the commission to trace the use of GM "even where there is no detectable level of GM in the final product".

Submissions on the paper close on October 11.

Commerce Commission