New Zealand poultry company Inghams Enterprises has defended its products after environmental group Greenpeace claimed that tests on a product had revealed genetically modified soy ingredients.
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Inghams Enterprises general manager Mike Rozen said the company’s chicken, coatings and marinades were GM-free and the company has certificates of compliance from its suppliers.
“This was recently confirmed by the Food Safety Authority (FSA) in an audit early this year,” Rozen was quoted by the New Zealand Press Association as saying.
Greenpeace claimed a test on an Inghams New Zealand-made frozen “Chicken Cordon Bleu” product had shown traces of undeclared GM soy ingredients.
“Inghams continue to import GE soy meal into New Zealand for use in animal feed – and this latest test shows that Inghams are using GE soy contaminated ingredients in their products too,” Greenpeace campaigner Steve Abel said.
The Food Safety Authority, however, said there were two exemptions to the country’s GM labelling laws. One is for flavourings making up less than 0.1% of a final food and the other is for an ingredient that unintentionally contained GM material.
“From the test run on behalf of Greenpeace, it is not clear what level of GE ingredient was found in the Inghams product,” FSA director of regulatory standards Carole Inkster told NZPA.
