Largest user of canola oil goes GE-free

3.00pm

One of New Zealand's biggest food companies, Goodman Fielder, has taken a stand against genetic engineering.

The company -- which makes Vogels bread and MeadowLea margarine -- joins Australasian food heavyweights Heinz Watties and Unilever in the green (non-GE) section of the Greenpeace GE-Free Food Guide.

Greenpeace campaigner Steve Abel said Goodman Fielder had outlined a new policy of excluding all GE crop-derived ingredients, including animal feed.

"Goodman Fielder's non-GE commitment is a great victory for the New Zealand consumer and it comes just in time for Christmas shopping," he said in a statement.

All the company's bread brands, including Vogels and Country Split, its margarines, including Sunrise and MeadowLea, and Amco cooking oils, were in the "green" section, meaning they are guaranteed GE-free.

Its Ernest Adams and Bluebird brands remained in the "orange" section as the company was still in the process of checking the non-GE crop-derived status of all ingredients.

As the single biggest user and distributor of canola oil in Australasia, the company's new non-GE commitment was a "significant blow" to the market prospects of GE canola in the region, Mr Abel said.

New Zealand's largest supermarket chain, Foodstuffs, last month followed its major competitor Progressive in announcing a non-GE ingredient policy for its brand products.

"The tide against GE crop ingredients in food has carried a steady stream of food companies from the red (may contain GE) to the green section of the guide over the last four years," Mr Abel said.

"This is set to continue as food companies increasingly recognise that consumer opposition to eating GE is not going away."

Greenpeace volunteers dressed as Christmas elves would be on streets nationwide today handing out free copies of the updated 4th edition of the consumer guide to avoiding GE food, the environmental group said.

- NZPA