Watercress milk the next GM advance

By ANNE BESTON

Blueberry-flavoured cheese anyone? How about watercress milk?

New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra has been given the go-ahead to research dairy products genetically modified with fruit enzymes to see if "novel and desirable flavours" result.

The GM experiments would be done on micro-organisms in strictly controlled laboratory conditions, where not even the scientists could ingest the results, said Fonterra spokesman Patrick Smellie.

Asked what was wrong with good, old-fashioned chocolate or strawberry-flavoured milk Mr Smellie said the GM work was "blue skies" research.

Tests were being conducted on a range of dairy micro-organisms found in yoghurt, cheese and milk using enzymes from plants such as watercress, blueberry, kiwifruit and apple.

The research could produce a cheese with a flavour "more intense or less intense", he said. Cheese was a "soup of enzymes" and this was a way of introducing another enzyme into the mix.

The company, which sells more than 90 per cent of New Zealand's dairy production, was mindful of its place as New Zealand's major food producer and was sensitive to consumer concerns.

The project was already approved before the GM moratorium expired and because of its low-risk category did not have to pass through the Environmental Risk Management Authority's rigorous hearings process. Instead it was approved by Erma chief executive Dr Basil Walker under delegated authority.

In the research application, Fonterra said because humans consumed edible fruit species and fermented dairy foods (sometimes together), the risk to human health and the environment from the GM research was "considered to be zero".

But Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons questioned the the work: "I think it's genetic engineering desperately looking for an application actually."