The food regulator, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), has released the results of an Australian pilot survey that shows that manufacturers in Australia are complying with the labelling standard for genetically modified (GM) food.

The standard requires any food, food ingredient or processing aid produced using gene technology and containing novel DNA and/or novel protein to be labelled as "genetically modified". This standard also allows up to 1% unintentional presence of GM food or ingredient in a final food.

All foods produced using gene technology must be safety assessed by FSANZ prior to release on to the market for human consumption. Hence, the labelling of GM food is not a safety issue, but one of consumer information. It enables consumers to make a choice about the food the wish or do not wish to eat.

In December 2000 the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Council (comprising Australian and New Zealand Health Ministers) agreed to a labelling standard for GM food that came into force in December 2001. The Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council agrees that it is essential for consumers to have confidence that GM food is labelled in accordance with the standard and noted that all State and Territory governments have worked together on a small pilot survey to test a range of foods to determine whether they contained any GM material.

The 51 samples tested came from the commonly eaten foods containing soy or corn: soymilk (12), cornflakes (7), tacos (4), corn chips (13) and bread (15).

The survey found that all the samples tested complied with the GM labelling standard. The unapproved Starlink GM corn was not detected in any of the corn products tested. Where traces of GM material were found, these were from approved GM foods that have been rigorously assessed for safety by FSANZ.

From the 51 samples tested, 5 soymilk, 3 taco and 2 corn chip products were found to have small traces of GM material, well below the 1% unintentional presence permitted without being required to label.

New Zealand will publish the results of their compliance project within the next week, which shows very similar results to those found in the Australian survey. The UK Food Standards Agency (UK FSA) has also recently published a report on a UK GM survey. Only 8 of the 91 products surveyed by the UK FSA were found to contain GM material, but were below the UK¹s 1% "adventitious presence" permitted threshold.

Consumers in Australia and New Zealand can feel confident that FSANZ is continuing to carry out safety assessments on genetically modified food to ensure that approved GM foods are as safe and nutritious as their conventional counterparts. Should a food not pass this safety assessment it will not be permitted for sale. To date 21 GM foods have been approved in Australia and New Zealand.