Are GM foods required to be labelled?
This is a mandatory requirement under Standard 1.5.2 Food Produced using Gene Technology for GM foods to be labelled. These requirements came into effect in Australia and New Zealand in December 2001 and are intended to provide information to consumers to facilitate choice, assisting consumers to purchase or avoid GM foods depending on their own views and beliefs. The standard requires that food (including ingredients, food additives and processing aids) be labelled with the words ‘genetically modified’, if novel DNA and/or novel protein from an approved GM variety is present in the final food. Therefore the general labelling requirements are based on the presence of novel DNA and/or protein at detectable levels in the food itself rather than on the process used. There are also additional labelling requirements where GM foods have altered characteristics compared to their conventional counterpart. For example, if a GM food has an increased level of a particular nutrient (e.g. vitamin),
This is a mandatory requirement under Standard 1.5.2 Food Produced using Gene Technology for GM foods to be labelled. These requirements came into effect in Australia and New Zealand in December 2001 and are intended to provide information to consumers to facilitate choice, assisting consumers to purchase or avoid GM foods depending on their own views and beliefs. The standard requires that food (including ingredients, food additives and processing aids) be labelled with the words ‘genetically modified’, if novel DNA and/or novel protein from an approved GM variety is present in the final food. Therefore the general labelling requirements are based on the presence of novel DNA and/or protein at detectable levels in the food itself rather than on the process used. There are also additional labelling requirements where GM foods have altered characteristics compared to their conventional counterpart. For example, if a GM food has an increased level of a particular nutrient (e.g.
