Nissin acknowledges possible presence of GMO food in noodles

Kyodo News Service 11apr01

OSAKA - Nissin Food Products Co. on Wednesday acknowledged the possibility of the presence of genetically modified soy beans in instant cup noodles it is marketing in Thailand.

Nissin officials said the company may have used a type of ''vegetable protein'' extracted from genetically engineered soybeans to boost the volume of meat used as an ingredient of the ''Cup Noodle 1,'' which its Thai subsidiary is now manufacturing.

''Genetically modified soybeans may have been used as part of the soybeans that make up part of the materials for use in our cup noodles products,'' a Nissin official said.

Since the Thai unit is now in the process of replacing any such allegedly genetically engineered soybeans with natural ones, the process of replacement is expected to be completed by the year-end, the official said.

The officials made the remarks a day after the Greenpeace environmentalist group accused Nissin of selling the noodles containing genetically modified ingredients without pasting a label warning Thai people of the presence of such ingredients.

Greenpeace has been accusing Nissin, Nestle, Unilever, Pepsi, and Procter and Gamble of using a double standard by selling GMO-carrying products in developing countries, whereas they have stopped selling such products in developed nations.

Companies in the Nissin group have already finished replacing GMO-carrying products with those that do not contain such ingredients in Japan, the Netherlands and Hong Kong, the officials said.

A Nissin spokesman said Nissin subsidiaries in the United States, India, the Philippines ''are making efforts to replace all of the products with GMO-carrying ingredients with those without such ingredients by March next year.''

Greenpeace-commissioned laboratory tests confirmed the presence of GMOs in seven daily food items sold in Thai supermarkets, the environmentalist group said.