The Director of Consumer Affairs is to investigate a complaint from Genetic Concern that the labelling scheme drawn up by IBEC for genetically-modified food distributed in Ireland is misleading.
The environmental group has claimed that the IBEC scheme will reduce choice and leave consumers "grossly misinformed". The business group would have served consumers better by calling for the segregation of genetically-modified food from unmodified food, according to Genetic Concern's spokesman, Mr Quentin Gargan.
The scheme has been praised by the chief executive of the Food Safety Authority, Dr Patrick Wall, as a first step towards informing the public about a complex issue, but it has been denounced by the Green MEP, Ms Nuala Ahern, as "a consumer con".
Under the scheme, products and ingredients derived from genetically-modified soya and maize are to be labelled as such. However, IBEC admitted that some products which do not contain genetically-modified material will have labels indicating otherwise. This arises because US exports to Ireland are not required to differentiate between modified and conventional crops.
"Since only about 12 per cent of US soya and even less maize is from genetically-engineered seeds, such labelling will more often than not be inaccurate", Mr Gargan claimed. Conversely, IBEC had suggested that derivatives, such as vegetable oils, should not be labelled, regardless of whether or not the soya or maize from which the oil is produced was genetically-engineered, he said.
Similar proposals have been adopted by the Food Industry Federation in Britain, while the British government is expected to use its EU presidency this week to urge EU adoption of such a scheme. Opponents in Europe have dismissed the scheme, describing it as "contrary to common sense".
In Genetic Concern's opinion, such labelling represents a "clever decoy by industry". Mr Gargan added: "What consumers want is segregation and accurate information."
He claimed that industry was vigorously resisting segregation and labelling of genetically-modified food varieties because many consumers, if given a choice, would not buy the novel version.
Mr Gargan said that commodity traders had in recent months found a thriving market for segregated crops. Genetic Concern believed that the IBEC labelling initiative, by ruling out the term "does not contain genetically-engineered ingredients", would curtail growth of this market and restrict choice.
The European Commission is expected to announce its labelling proposals in May.
