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GE Food in China: Recent Developments and Implications

GE Food in China: Recent Developments and Implications. Greenpeace 2006. The Scenario. The Chinese government has invested 500 million USD in biotech research by 2005 The Ministry of Agriculture regulates GE food, including approval, import/export, labeling and processing

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GE Food in China: Recent Developments and Implications

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  1. GE Food in China:Recent Developments and Implications Greenpeace 2006

  2. The Scenario • The Chinese government has invested 500 million USD in biotech research by 2005 • The Ministry of Agriculture regulates GE food, including approval, import/export, labeling and processing • China ratified the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety in June 2005

  3. Approval Process: a more cautious approach? • “China is applying the brakes to its plan to produce the world's first genetically modified rice for human consumption as concerns mount over safety, especially with reports that illegal transgenic rice is already being sold in some provinces.” ----Nao Nakanishi, Reuters, 22 Nov 2005

  4. Approval Process: a more cautious approach? The Reformulation of the Biosafety Committee • An advisory group responsible for the safety assessment of GE crops • Reformulated in June 2005: a more balanced composition • A lack of consensus on the approval of GE rice "The safety requirement is getting tougher and tougher because of the concerns ... Because rice is for food, the government really wants to make sure that they make no mistake." ---- Dr. Lu Baorong, Biosafety Committee member

  5. Public Awareness: concerns with GE food IPSOS Survey 2006: • Time: Feb 2006 • Scale: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan • Target Group: Urban consumers aged between 18-55 • Sample Size: 800 (200 for each city) • Method: Computer Aided Telephone Interview

  6. Public Awareness: concerns with GE food Concerns with GE food: • 50% would choose non-GE food • 62% oppose to using GE ingredients in baby food • 79% would choose non-GE rice

  7. Public Awareness: concerns with GE food High Demand for the Right to Know: • 88% ask for mandatory labeling for GE food • 96% ask for mandatory labeling for GE rice

  8. Public Awareness: concerns with GE food Low-level of acquaintance: • 45% have not heard of GE food • 69% do not know which GE crops exist in the food market • 69% do not know whether China has approved GE rice

  9. Illegal GE rice: a challenge Illegal GE rice contamination: the situation • Unapproved GE (Bt) rice resistant to pests • Large-scale growth in Hubei province before 2005 • Government actions: • Punished seed companies selling GE rice seeds • Destroyed GE rice in the field

  10. Illegal GE rice: a challenge Heinz Rice Cereal Seed markets in Wuhan Wholesale Markets in Wuhan Unpackaged rice in Carrefour Wholesale market in Guangzhou Heinz Rice Cereal Unpackaged rice in ParknShop Heinz Rice Cereal *All the findings confirmed by GeneScan testing results

  11. Greenpeace: working with the food industry • Food producers: Non-GE policy for products sold in China • Retailers: Non-GE policy for own-brand products Proper measures to prevent illegal GE products

  12. Non-GE Policy Coca Cola： In China we use high fructose corn syrup produced from non-biotech corn. We source our soya locally from non-biotech crops.

  13. Non-GE Policy • Kraft Foods: “Kraft Foods has decided that, as of 1 January 2007, products sold by Kraft in Mainland China will only use non-GM crop-derived ingredients, including additives and flavours.” • PepsiCo Foods: “Given the current consumer debate over biotechnology, we are able to source our commodities without using genetically modified ingredients.” • EFFEM FOODS (Mars Inc.) : “Our consumers have told us they would prefer us not to use Genetically Modified ingredients in our products. We therefore embarked on a program of identifying the origins and supply chains of everything that goes into our products to ensure that no GM ingredients are used in their manufacture.”

  14. Control of Illegal GE Rice • Carrefour: • We commit to a policy that we will not sell illegal GE rice in Carrefour’s stores in China • We are doing random sampling of the rice sold in Carrefour stores in China to prevent contamination by illegal GE rice. • If we find illegal GE rice, we will withdraw and stop selling rice from the contaminated sources as soon as we receive non-conform analyses results • ParknShop: • It is ParknShop’s policy NOT selling any illegal products including illegal GM rice in its stores in China • We are implementing a surveillance system in which we send samples of our Best Buy rice to an independent outside laboratory for GMO testing • In the event of finding a positive test result we will remove from sale the effected batch of products.

  15. Shopper’s Guide • Two versions Mainland & Hongkong • 50,000copies distributed in mainland • >60companies,>100brands have a non-GE policy • With a non-GE policy In the process of implementing non-GE policy Without a non-GE policy

  16. Example of companies with a non-GE policy in China * Based on written statements received by Greenpeace

  17. Food Testing • Focusing on different categories: baby food, drinks, fast food….. • Food products collected in supermarkets • Samples tested by accredited labs • Test results will be released to the public

  18. Thank you!

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