2/21/2005
- When nutritional labeling comes into force in Canada later this year,
manufacturers may also take advantage of the need to change their labels to
stipulate whether their products’ ingredients are genetically engineered.
However,
the labeling is unlikely to be of much value as a marketing tool for food
manufacturers according to Jeanne Cruikshank, vice president of the Canadian
Council of Grocery Distritors (CCGD), one of the organizations leading on this
issue, as she thinks most consumers are not that interested in the GM debate.
"For
most consumers this is just additional information about a product that has
already been deemed as safe," she told FoodNavigatorUSA.com.
For
the same reason she believes it is unlikely that the labeling of genetically
engineered foods will ever become compulsory, particularly because Canada does
not have segregated crops.
The
labeling discussion back in 1999, when the CCGD and the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency ruled that food manufacturers could not make any reference to
genetically engineered ingredients on their packets until a standard had been
drawn up.
After
five years of debate, the interested parties finally came to the consensus they
needed in December 2003 and a voluntary standard was published in April last
year.
Cruikshank
explained that there are basically three key points to the labeling - details
of which are posted on its website.
First,
for the purposes of the voluntary standard, genetically engineered is defined
as containing a protein that would otherwise not be in a product.
Canola
oil would therefore be defined as genetically modified because the plant that
it comes from originally is from a modified gene, even if the final product is
free from engineered proteins.
Second,
products, where there are no genetically engineered varieties, such as apples
or oranges, are not allowed to be labeled as free from genetically engineered
proteins unless they state, for example, "just like all other
oranges." Nor will producers with multi-ingredient products be able to highlight
one ingredient as not being genetically engineered.
The
third point is that every label must also display a website or toll free number
where consumers are able to access more information.
Despite
the agreement of this voluntary labeling, the first products are still to
appear on the store shelves.
"We
are still at the stage of discussing what the labels would look like,"
said Cruikshank, adding that research is being carried out into what the labels
would mean to the consumer.
All
pre-packaged foods in Canada will have to display nutritional labeling by 12
December 2005 and it will be interesting to see how many companies add any GM
information.
Moreover, with discussions underway about trans fats and the labeling thereof
just beginning, the coming years could see manufacturers having to pay out for
a another round of new labels.