A delegation of 74 UK organic businesses, with a combined turnover of GBP950m (US$1.87bn), are meeting MPs at the House of Commons to highlight their opposition to proposals that would allow up to 0.9% genetically modified ingredients in organic food without its presence being flagged to consumers.
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The companies which attended the meeting, which was organised by the Soil Association and Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Organic Group included: Abel & Cole, Aspalls, Community Foods, Dorset Cereals, Doves Farm, Fresh, Green & Blacks, Grove Fresh, OMSCo, Planet Organic, Rachel’s Dairies, Rainbow Wholefoods, R B Organic, Riverford, Stonegate, Yeo Valley and W Jordan Cereals.
Last Autumn, the UK government completed its consultation on the coexistence of GM, non-GM and organic foods. In line with opinions expressed by the European Commission, it concluded that a GM content of 0.9% in non-GM and organic food is permissible and should not have to be labelled.
According to the Soil Association, during the consultation the government met with various GM companies, including AstraZeneca, BASF Plant Science, Bayer CropScience, Dow AgroSciences, Du Pont (UK), Monsanto UK and Syngenta. However, the organic body said, not one organic business was consulted directly.
Illustrating the concerns of organic companies, Alex Smith of Alara, chair of the FDF’s Organic Group said: “There is overwhelming evidence that one of the main reasons that consumers buy organic is to avoid eating food containing any GM.
“If the proposals set out by the government were implemented, very significant new economic burdens could be placed on organic food producers, manufacturers and retailers – the government envisages allowing routine contamination of all non-GM and organic food chains with up to 0.9% GM. Organic businesses will face enhanced risks of GM contamination, product recall and loss of their most valuable asset, the consumer trust that underlies their brand value”.
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By GlobalDataThe Soil Association’s policy director Peter Melchett said that the government’s proposals threatened to undermine consumer trust in organic goods and were the consequence of a policy heavily weighted in favour of GM companies.
“The government wants the full cost of keeping organic food as it now is, at the lowest reliable and repeatable level of detection of GM (0.1% GM), to fall on organic businesses, and therefore on organic consumers. So people who eat organic food will end up paying for a GM policy designed to benefit the GM companies. The government is putting at risk one of the fastest growing areas of the UK economy,” he commented.
Opposition in the House of Commons to Labour’s GM proposal has been spearheaded by the Conservative Front Bench, but won support from all quarters.
“We warmly welcome the motion tabled in the House of Commons by the Conservative Front Bench, with all-party support, which states that ‘consumers have the right to choose non-GM foods and that all foods containing GM material, or that come from livestock fed on GM, should be clearly labelled as such’, and that 0.1% GM ‘should be the trigger point for GM labelling’. We hope it is not too late for the government to change its pro-GM stance, which threatens public trust in organic farming and food,” Melchett added.
