Woolworths (South Africa) to clear its shelves of genetically engineered foods 

COMTEX Newswire  22dec99

Woolworths food stores would remove genetically modified food from their shelves, the company announced yesterday. Pick 'n Pay criticized the move and accused Woolworths of "scare tactics" and misleading the public.

"One has to be either very brave or very irresponsible to make a statement like that," said Pick 'n Pay MD Martin Rosen. "How do you know what food is genetically modified? Just about everything has been modified over the years. It is just impossible to tell."

Woolworths did not say when its shelves would be free of genetically modified food, but said that after a meeting with the SA Federation Against Genetic Engineering, it intended removing the food from its shelves.

"The situation with regard to (genetically modified) food in SA is unsatisfactory. (It) is already on our shelves, but we have no legislation that forces companies to label the products."

Genetically engineered food results when specific genes are artificially removed or introduced into another organism to boost a certain trait.

The technology has been used in the health industry for years in the manufacture of medicines, but since it has been introduced in the food industry, intense battles have raged over the pros and cons of the food and the technology, especially in Europe.

Woolworths said it would assess the food for "harmful effects" in a continuing monitoring program, starting with primary ingredients.

"If no alternative ingredients can be found, Woolworths will clearly label its products."

SA has no mandatory labeling laws yet. Government, under the auspices of the health department, has called for proposals from the food industry and consumer bodies on labeling policies.

A concern of the department is that too stringent labeling legislation could push up the cost of food significantly.

Rosen says the job of identifying genetically modified food is huge. "If you have one bean field with genetically modified plants and another with (nongenetically modified) plants, what happens when a bee pollinates the nongenetically modified bed of beans? Can you still claim that it is (nongenetically modified) food?"

In SA, the only genetically modified crops grown are maize and cotton, but genetically modified tomatoes, soya, potatoes and maize are imported, mainly from the US. Soya is used extensively in processed foods such as polonies and other types of meat.

A source from food company Escourt backed Rosen, saying it was impossible to tell which food contained imported genetically modified soya. 

Rosen said Pick 'n Pay was not removing genetically modified food from its shelves.

The company was working with manufacturers on a program to educate and inform the public about biotechnology, he said.