Food
GM Food in Australia: Two Regulators, and What the Label Leaves Out
Job for today: find out what the GM rules mean for your own pantry. It takes about 20 minutes.
- Pull five packaged foods from the pantry, such as a bottle of oil, a box of crackers, a snack bar, a jar of sauce and a bag of something sweet. Three minutes.
- Read the ingredient list on each and look for the words “genetically modified” beside an ingredient. Five minutes.
- Write down which ones carry that statement. For most products the answer will be none. Two minutes.
- Look at the bottle of oil in particular. Many highly refined oils and sugars may not be required to carry a label, even where the crop was grown from GM seed. Note that gap. Two minutes.
- Open the food regulator’s page on GM foods and find the list of approved foods. Five minutes.
- Write one sentence on what you would want a label to tell you. Three minutes.
That is the whole job. The rest of this article explains why the answer to step 3 is usually “none” and what that does and does not tell you.
Two regulators, two questions
Australia splits the job in two.
The Gene Technology Regulator sits in the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR). It assesses the risks that dealings with genetically modified organisms pose to people and the environment, and it licenses things like field trials and commercial releases. Its question is whether a GM organism can be grown or handled safely.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) decides whether a GM food can be sold. A GM food needs a safety assessment and an approval before it goes into the food supply, and the rules sit in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code. FSANZ’s published position is that foods it has approved are as safe to eat as their conventional counterparts.
The two answers are separate. A crop can be licensed to grow and still need food approval before it is sold, and a food can be approved for sale without any licence to grow it here.
What the label covers
The Code requires labelling of GM food in certain cases, mainly where the food contains novel DNA or novel protein, or has altered characteristics.
It does not require labelling in every case:
- Food prepared for immediate consumption from restaurants, takeaway outlets and caterers is exempt.
- Up to 1 per cent per ingredient of an approved GM food that is present unintentionally is exempt.
Because the test is whether the food on sale contains novel DNA or novel protein, or has altered characteristics, some highly processed foods and foods from animals fed GM feed may carry no GM statement; Standard 1.5.2 has the detail.
So a label saying nothing is not proof that no GM crop was involved at any stage. It means the product did not meet the labelling test. A voluntary “non-GM” claim can be made, but it has to be truthful.
What is grown here
The OGTR says genetically modified canola, cotton and safflower are grown in Australia. A great deal of cotton is grown for fibre, though cottonseed oil can enter the food supply. Some GM-derived ingredients also arrive in imported foods. States and territories can set their own rules about growing GM crops, so the position is not identical across the country. For the current picture by crop, the OGTR is the authority to check.
Where the argument sits
The debate over whether GM food should be allowed is a real one, and this article does not take a side. It rests on questions of values as well as evidence.
People who favour GM crops point to things such as yield protection, pest and disease resistance and reduced need for some sprays. People who are cautious point to the possibility of gene flow to other plants, herbicide-resistant weeds, market access for exporters and questions about who owns seed. Both sets of concerns are widely raised, and regulators address some of them directly through licensing conditions and food approval.
What can be said on the evidence is narrower: in Australia, GM food on sale has been assessed by FSANZ and GM crops have been assessed by the OGTR, and the labelling rules decide what you can see on the pack. If you want more labelling, the place to say so is in a submission to the regulator when it consults, not at the shelf.
If you grow your own
A different way into the topic is to grow some of your own food and know exactly where it came from. The guide to an eco-friendly garden covers a sensible starting point for a home patch.
What to do with the answer
If your list from step 6 says you want more information on the label, you have a view that is shared by many people and a regulator that runs consultations. If it says you are comfortable with the current approach, the same list helps you check you understand it.
Next job: pick one product you buy every week, read its label again and write down whether you would have guessed the answer to step 3 before you looked.
Sources: Food Standards Australia New Zealand, Genetically modified foods (https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/gmfood/labelling); Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, Standard 1.5.2 Genetically modified food (Federal Register of Legislation) (https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2015L00404/latest/text); Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, Australian Government (https://www.ogtr.gov.au/about-ogtr/what-are-genetically-modified-organisms-gmos)