Food Law News - UK - 2000
FSA Letter, 6 November 2000
GM FOOD - Non Approved GM Ingredients in Tortilla Chips
It has been widely reported that work commissioned by Friends of the Earth has found unquantified levels of flour derived from two GM maize varieties GA21 and DBT418 in samples of tortilla chips sold in the UK. The FSA are currently investigating these claims.
The FSA has written to the British Retail Consortium to remind its member companies that these varieties have not been approved for food use in the EU. The Novel Foods and Novel Food Ingredients Regulations 1997 (as amended) make it an offence to sell foods containing non-approved GM ingredients. The letter requests the BRC to let the FSA know as soon as possible what action BRC members are taking to ensure that foods containing non approved GM ingredients are not being sold to consumers.
For information, the FSA indicates that only ingredients derived from the following GM plant varieties have been approved for food use in the European Union:
Maize
- Aventis T25
- Monsanto Mon 810
- Novartis CG00526-176, Bt11
- Pioneer MON809
Oilseed Rape
- AgrEvo - Transformation event TOPAS 19/2
- Hoechst - Falcon GS40/90, Liberator L62
- Monsanto - GT73
- PGS - Lines MS1Bn (B91-4), RF2Bn (B94-2), RF1Bn (B93-101), MS8 (DBN230-0028), RF (DBN212-0005), MS1xRF1, MS1xRF2, MS8xRF3
Soya
Tomato
- Zeneca - Nema 1401F, H282F (Tomato paste only, approved in UK in 1995)
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