Growing demand for non genetically engineered oil

Australia’s main grain handler, GrainCorp, had planned to mix in GE canola with the main crop – a decision it reversed on the day of the release of Greenpeace’s The Good Oil report. GrainCorp had been under intense pressure from farmers and industry to guarantee segregation of the GE canola.  The report notes that canola accounts for almost half of the market share of food industry usage of oils in Australia and has been, until now, non-GE except for some imported oils.

Canola is found largely in processed foods and vegetable oil blends and the oil by-product is commonly fed to livestock as canola meal. Canola may also be used in ingredients such as lecithin. Australia’s first small-scale commercial GE canola crops were harvested in NSW and Victoria last year and this year for the first time locally produced GE canola will enter the Australian food supply.

“This is the first year that the harvested GE canola will be crushed for oil. It is now imperative that food industry buyers contact their suppliers to ensure that non-GE supply specifications are in place, and are applied to any domestic canola product, such as canola oil,” says Greenpeace GE industry campaigner Rochelle Porteous.

“GrainCorp’s decision to continue to segregate genetically engineered canola from the main crop this year shows what effect consumers and farmers can have in making their concerns known.”

”Last year less than 1% of the canola crop was GE and this has marginally increased in 2009 with 300 growers in Victoria and NSW cultivating GE canola. However, this report highlights the very real threat of contamination that Australia’s food supply faces unless the current GE food crop bans are reinstated.”

The report cites well-documented evidence of market rejection and consumer concern about GE oils and foods and has compiled a list of the widespread availability of non-GE oils, with some 45 oils suppliers now providing a range of non-GE edible oils and margarines at both retail and wholesale levels, including giants Goodman Fielder, Peerless, and Unilever.

The Report notes, among other things that: