The Rural Voice, 2000-02, Page 18J
t may be hard to
market even
genetically altered
varieties that are
approved for importation
into Europe, an
OMAFRA marketing
official told producers at
Grey -Bruce Farmers
Week.
Pleading with
producers not to shoot
the messenger, Dermod
Mark, of OMAFRA's
Market Development
Branch, told producers
the movement against
genetically altered
(GMO) food is such that
buyers in some countries
are staying far away from
anything that will create
doubt among consumers.
In Britain, things have
gone so far that even the
caterer for the Monsanto
cafeteria has just
declared it is GMO free,
Mark said.
The GMO debate is
science and technology
versus morals and ethics,
Mark said. Supporters of
GMO's can complain
Unit
about the emotion
GMO OR NO?
Genetically altered varieties may make economic
sense for Ontario farmers but exporting the grain
could prove a challenge, marketer says
By Keith Roulston
5
In Britain the debate on GMO foods
like soybeans is over, Dermod Mark
says. In Canada it's just begun.
14141
N.
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A
involved but people are emotional
about food, he said. In a former job
with OMAFRA, Mark had been
involved in Foodland Ontario
consumer research. People asked to
draw a picture about food showed a
family sitting around a table eating,
he said. People also associated food
with love — preparing a meal for
those you care was seen as one of the
greatest acts of love. Food is also
culture, Mark said. And people get
passionate about food.
Food is emotion, he said, and
those against genetically altered
foods are speaking a language much
closer to the consumer than the
scientists, commercial interests and
farmers are.
The consumer will decide the
issue, Mark says, even if consumers
sometimes make the wrong decision.
"The consumer does not perceive
any benefit to GMO food," he says.
The benefit, as they see it, is to the
big multinational companies creating
the seeds being grown.
14 THE RURAL VOICE
"The debate is over in Britain," he
told producers. "GMO foods won't
come back for 15 years." Companies
supporting genetically altered foods
have turned their attention to trying
to educate the generation now in
school to accept GMOs, taking
students to labs and getting them
interested in the science of genetic
engineering.
"They've gone right over the top
(in Britain) on this one," Mark said.
A law says you can ask your server
in a restaurant if there is any
genetically -altered material in food
being served. Since of course every
server isn't going to be able to know,
restaurants have essentially become
GMO free, including Monsanto's
caterer.
The British have reason to be
wary of their food and suspicious of
scientists after the BSE (mad cow
disease) outbreak, Mark says. The
food retailer Iceland Foods, which is
similar to our M&M Meats, surveyed
its customers and found 77 per cent
were worried about GMOs
in food. Since the company
announced it would go
GMO free, it's sales grew
10 per cent in each of the
last two years.
With those kind of results
other major retailers have
been following Iceland's
example. As well, in
Britain retailers as the end
link in the food chain carry
the liability for problems
with their food. Their one
defence is to prove they've
shown due diligence.
Therefore companies are
putting the onus back
ontheir suppliers to prove
that their products are
GMO free.
Retailers are going well
beyond any regulatory
standard, Mark said.
Usually a government
minimum standard
becomes the maximum but
not in food.
Now being offered in
Britain are GMO-free meat
and eggs with suppliers
having to guarantee there
are no GMO ingredients in
feeds. One large Swiss food
chain is also offering GMO
free eggs and meat.
The next big battle ground will be
in animal feed, Mark said.
"If the Japanese want their pork
from pigs that haven't been fed GMO
feeds, they'll get it. The Danes will
be able to supply it if we can't."
The Japanese have a mandatory
GMO labeling program coming into
place April 1, 2000 but it won't be
enforced for a year. All products
must be labeled if there are
ingredients that are not substantially
equivalent to natural products.
Because of worries that some
ingredient might not meet the
regulations, companies will probably
avoid the possibility by remaining
GMO free. The Japanese tofu
association has said it wants GMO-
free soybeans. Japanese
supermarkets, even a major beer
company, have declared themselves
GMO free.
Many Canadian export companies
don't even begin to understand the
immensity of the problem, Mark