The employer group IBEC has defended its introduction of a scheme for labelling genetically modified food and rejected criticism by the environmental group Genetic Concern, which claimed it was misleading.

"The complaint (to the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs) is fundamentally missing the point of the guidelines, which is the need to provide useful and meaningful information to the consumer," said Ms Kathryn Raleigh, of IBEC's Food & Drink Federation.

Given that the EU had not yet adopted common rules for the labelling of products and ingredients derived from genetically modified soya and maize, the IBEC guidelines were introduced to provide this information, she added.

"The basis for the guidelines is the identification of products and ingredients in which it is possible to identify the presence of a new protein resulting from genetic modification. This system has been adopted and implemented in several other EU countries."

A decision to voluntarily label these ingredients was taken on the basis that as much as 15 per cent of this year's US soya harvest will be genetically modified. "Soya and maize, as commodity crops, are not segregated. Until such time as crops are clearly segregated and a verifiable detection method is agreed, the IBEC guidelines will provide the consumer with the information necessary to make a choice," Ms Raleigh said.

Genetic Concern complained that consumers were being misinformed, as some products which are not genetically modified will have labels indicating otherwise. But IBEC insist that they do not advocate the use of the term "may contain", as many consumer interest groups had said this form of description was confusing. "In addition," she said, "to state that the product `does not contain genetically modified ingredients' would certainly mislead, as the current situation means that the user cannot guarantee that this is the case."