Oireachtas Committee on Health & Children: There are about 16 food products on the Irish market with genetically modified ingredients but consumers are unaware of this because it is not mentioned on their labels.
The genetically modified ingredients include soya and maize and are mainly found in processed foods, the joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children was told yesterday. Dr Pat O'Mahony, chief specialist, biotechnology, of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland said there was no requirement to mention GM content on labels if they made up less than 1 per cent of an ingredient in the product. He said the products were "safe".
Committee member Dr Jimmy Devins said it was appalling that there were GM foods on our shelves which were unlabelled and that there was no requirement to mention this on their labels.
He also said he was shocked when the committee was told by Ms Roisín Cahillane, assistant principal of the food unit at the Department of Health, that if GM food was fed to a pig, this did not have to be mentioned on the label of the pig meat that finally ended up on a supermarket shelf.
The revelations came amid discussions of a plan by the European Commission to give the go-ahead later this year to the Netherlands to market genetically modified sweetcorn for human consumption.
If it gives the crop the go ahead it will end a six year moratorium on GM foods being approved within the EU. Asked by Dr Devins what was the advantage of GM foods to consumers, Dr O'Mahony said there was no advantage.
The advantage was for the farmer, he said.
The Dáil committee has decided to recommend to both the Department of Health and the European Commission that permission be refused for the marketing of the Dutch sweetcorn.
It has also asked for all food stuffs containing GM ingredients to be labelled as such, regardless of how small the GM content.