MasterChef, writer, doctor talk genetically engineered food:

Alex Herbert, MasterChef guest and head chef of Bird Cow Fish and John Newton, co-author of the 2010 Foodies Guide to Sydney will join Dr Carole Hungerford - GP, award-winning author and farmer - and GE Industry campaigner for Greenpeace, Rochelle Porteous to talk about genetically engineered food with a focus on GE oils. The talk closely follows the release of the Greenpeace report, The Good Oil – which highlights the very real risk of GE contamination that Australia’s food supply is facing through imported and locally produced GE oils.–

“GE oils are contaminating many food and beverage products we purchase from our supermarket shelves.  These products include vegetable oils, margarine, snack foods, baked products,  ice cream and even baby food,” says Greenpeace GE campaigner Rochelle Porteous.

“Dr Carole Hungerford, who is also a Bathurst farmer, is concerned about the links between food and health. The practising GP and author of Good Health in the 21st Century will discuss the swapping of genes from GE food with the gut bacteria and the possible “health implications – gut disorders, irritable bowel syndromes and food allergies to name a few”.

Food writer John Newton says: “The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator assures us that GE food is safe. Could I ask how they know that, when they have ever done any tests?”

Ms Porteous will also discuss labelling laws: “An inconvenient truth is that the Australian food labelling authority – Food Standards Australia New Zealand - allows food and beverage companies to use GE ingredients and GE-derived ingredients including GE canola oil and cottonseed oil and not label them - hiding behind inadequate labelling laws.”

She continues: “Cheap genetically engineered cottonseed oil is commonly used by fast food restaurants to fry our fish and chips or the onions in our hamburgers. Also of great concern is the fact that locally produced GE canola is entering the Australian food supply for the first time following the lifting of moratoriums in NSW and Victoria in 2008. 2009 is the first year the GE canola will be crushed for oil.”

WHAT: Out of the Frying Pan - Sydney International Food Festival (SIFF) free public forum on genetically engineered oils and foods in Australia.

WHEN: Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 6.30pm-8pm

WHERE: Mitchell Theatre, Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney

Related URLs: Sydney International Food Festival Out of the Frying Pan information

The Good Oil – Solutions to genetically engineered oilseed contamination in cooking oils and margarines in Australia

More information: www.truefood.org.au