By Jodie Thomson

The amount of genetically modified material fed to Australian chickens,
cattle and sheep is tipped to increase as global use of the technology
expands, a Federal report claims, sparking renewed calls from consumer
groups for tougher labelling.

An Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics report yesterday
revealed broader adoption of the technology worldwide and recent commercial
production of modified canola in Victoria and NSW had increased the amount
of GM material in stock feed.

Chicken and egg industries were the most likely to include GM ingredients in
their feed because of a reliance on protein meals, such as soybean and
canola, but other livestock industries were expected to follow as GM crops
expanded, ABARE executive director Phillip Glyde said.

Clare Hughes, food policy officer with consumer group Choice, said better
labelling and more transparency along the food supply chain was needed for
meat, egg and dairy products from animals which may have been fed GM
product.

?We think that many consumers would choose to avoid a product derived from
an animal that has been fed GM feed,? she said.

Australian Chicken Meat Federation executive director Andreas Dubs said the
industry relied on imported soybean meal and there were limited overseas
sources which were guaranteed to be GM free.

He said Australia?s three biggest chicken meat processors all had a stated
policy of sourcing non-GM soy meal wherever possible. ?That is in
recognition of consumer concerns rather than any scientific recognition of
any safety concerns,? he said.

But he believed very few consumers who said they preferred chicken not given
GM feed would be prepared to pay for the privilege.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Ageing said animals given GM
feed were not genetically altered in any way, and therefore food products
from those animals were not required to be labelled as GM.

?To label them as such would be misleading,? she said. ?Food Standards
Australia New Zealand advise that overwhelming weight of scientific evidence
clearly shows that animals fed GM feeds are as safe and nutritious as
animals fed non-GM feeds.?

The Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council is
reviewing food labelling laws.
www.checkbiotech.org