A bulletin for the Australian Food Industry November 1998
Contents: Listeria in food - is zero tolerance necessary? | Safe Food Production New South Wales (Safe Food) | Parasites in water supplies | Comparison of ATP luminometry systems | Foods produced using gene technology | Hand washing in the food service industry | Thank you
Foods produced using gene technology
Under new standard A18 in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, it is illegal to sell any food produced using gene technology unless the food is included in a Table of the Standard and complies with any special conditions listed in it. Standard A18 also contains a provision for labelling of food in circumstances where the nature of the food has been significantly changed.
The Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) is inviting public submissions on six applications from Monsanto Australia Limited seeking approval to market foods derived from genetically modified crops.
Four of the applications deal with gene modifications confering tolerance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup®, on the plant from which the food commodity is derived. The crops involved are soy, cotton, corn and canola. Derivatives of all these crops are widely used in the food industry.
The other two applications involve gene modifications which yield an increase in resistance to insect pests in cotton and corn.
As the products of these genetically modified crops will diffuse through the food supply in the form of oils, starches and other ingredients, the question of the labelling of these foods will be thrown into sharp focus should approval to market them be granted.
Submissions on these applications are sought by ANZFA by 23 December 1998.
Food Science Australia
PO Box 52, North Ryde 1670. Tel +61 2 9490 8397 Fax +61 2 9490 8499
Email enquiries@csiro.au