03/18 10:31 FOCUS-UK waiters must know if foods contain GMOs
(recasts, adds Jeff Rooker news conference) By Chris Lyddon
LONDON, March 18 (Reuters) - British waiters will have to be able to
tell diners whether their food contains genetically modified soya or
maize, under new rules announced on Thursday by food safety minister
Jeff Rooker.
And if they cannot, their employers in any of some 125,000 catering
establishments of various types, from hot-dog stands to the most
expensive restaurant in Britain, face fines of up to 5,000 pounds,
Rooker said.
The same fine is imposed on food shops if they fail to label according
to the EU rules.
"We don't think it's impractical," Rooker told a news conference at the
ministry of agriculture. "If a customer wants to ask if any ingredients
have been genetically modified then they ought to be able to answer,"
he said.
A European Union law requiring the labelling of foods containing GM
soya and maize has been in place since September last year. The
British government was moving to enforce the EU requirement through
British law, but at the same time extending it to catering premises.
The government had decided that in the interests of consumer choice
there should be labels on these foods in restaurants. But after
consultation it had been decided that full labelling would require too
much "gold-plating," the usual term for a national government
extending the working of an EU rule.
"We don't want to put a burden on the catering industry, but we've
already got a system in catering for nut-allergies," Rooker said.
A notice in the restaurant would invite people to ask the staff about GM
ingredients. This process would save reprinting menus according to
where ingredients had been sourced.
Although the new fines for failing to follow the EU's labelling regulation
would come in from Friday, the parts involving the catering trade would
be phased in over six months.
There had to be what Rooker called a 'de minimis,' rule to give a very
small percentage of GM material which could be present before it had
to be specified.
The crops involved are Roundup Ready soya developed by Monsanto
<MTC.N> and a maize developed by Novartis <NOVZn.S>. Rooker
stressed that they are not grown in Britain. "We're not producing any
GM food in this country...," he said. But field-scale trials of GM crops
were about to start.
British food retailers, supermarkets in particular, have been quick to
acknowledge public alarm about GM food, many going further than the
government's new rules require.
J. Sainsbury Plc <SBRY.L> said on Wednesday it had set up a
consortium of European supermarkets to ensure no genetically altered
ingredients make it into their own-label products.
Marks & Spencer <MKS.L> said it would stop selling genetically
modified food in the coming months and ASDA Group Plc <ASSD.L>
has said it wants its own-label range of products to be free of modified
ingredients.
Safeway <SFW.L> is working to substitute GM products with
conventional ones and Tesco <TSCO.L> said it will clearly label GM
products.
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