NZ bread rejected over GM content

By REBECCA WALSH

Subway sandwiches made in New Zealand use the same bread dough that has caused an outcry in Japan because it contains a product made using an unauthorised GM organism.

Subway says the dough is approved for use in New Zealand and has been exported to Japan for years.

But the news has sparked further debate in New Zealand over the lifting of the GM moratorium on Wednesday, and officials are looking into the issue.

It comes only months after a Japanese pizza maker rejected a Gisborne firm's corn when it was found to contain GM material.

Staff at Taranaki bakery Yarrows, which produced the dough, have been working day and night to make a new dough that does not contain the product, believed to have been imported.

Yesterday Paul Yarrow, the third generation of the family to run the business, said the news had come as a huge shock. He hoped to have the new dough to Japanese stores by Wednesday.

Mr Yarrow understood that Japan, which had some of the toughest regulations in the world, had different interpretations of ingredients to other countries.

"If we don't have clear guidelines on all these areas, this will be repeated many times over with other exporters."

Subway's development agent in New Zealand, Mark Rutherglen, said the problem appeared to be an enzyme in the bread dough.

The enzyme had been approved for use by Food Standards Australia New Zealand, and he questioned whether Japan had changed its restrictions.

He did not think Subway in New Zealand would be affected.

"I believe our customers will look at it and say that's Japan, this is us."

Japanese newspaper Kyodo News said the chain removed the dough as a precaution.

Japanese officials said Subway used four types of frozen bread dough containing an enzyme not approved by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

New Zealand Environment Minister Marian Hobbs said the product was believed to have been imported to New Zealand.

It was unknown whether it was an enzyme or an organism.

"We have been full of questions as to what is going on. We don't know what it is."

Ms Hobbs said it was possible the suspect product was not listed as an ingredient if it was a part of the food-making process but not present in the final product.

She said the issue had nothing to do with the GM moratorium.

"The moratorium has nothing to do with goods imported to New Zealand.

"The moratorium is all about work we may do on research inside New Zealand and we won't be exporting any of our grown goods for light years."

But Greenpeace said that the incident made a total farce of the Government's claims that New Zealand was ready for the lifting of the moratorium.

Spokesman Steve Abel said there was no requirement to be able to trace non-viable GM foodstuffs imported into New Zealand. GM soy feed was also imported without any labelling or documentation required so producers might not know they were using it in their production.

Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said New Zealand's reputation as a supplier of fresh, clean, safe food was plummeting. Because food processing additives did not have to be labelled, New Zealanders did not know whether they were eating GM material or not.