Australian food expert Margaret Fulton today [Wednesday] launched a new publication designed to give Australian shoppers control over their food.
The True Food Guide reveals which food companies may be using genetically engineered (GE) ingredients in their products and which are not.
Greenpeace also released new market research today, which it claims shows that 68% of Australians would be less likely to buy a food if they knew it was GE.
“It is clear that most Australians don’t want to eat GE foods, but they’ve had no way of knowing how to avoid them,” said Greenpeace GE campaigner John Hepburn. “The True Food Guide will empower shoppers to say no to GE foods.”
Launching the True Food Guide, Fulton said, “GE food threatens everything I stand for. There is enough evidence to tell us that GE food is not a good idea. The True Food Guide will be our reference to what is safe to eat.”
The Guide rates food companies according to their policies on using GE ingredients. Over 170 food companies and 400 products are classified in three categories:
*Green: companies that have given written assurance that they are not using GE ingredients anywhere in the food chain.
*Orange: companies that are committed to removing GE ingredients and are in the process of doing so.
*Red: companies that have no policy to remove GE-derived ingredients, including those from animals fed GE feed, and companies that did not respond adequately to our enquiries.
Half a million free True Food Guides will be distributed nationally, beginning with the Good Food Shows in Sydney and Melbourne.
Copies can also be downloaded from www.greenpeace.org.au/truefood.
