Labelling of products and foods containing GMO's in South Africa.

Labelling is a big problem in South Africa. Due to the lack of legislation around labelling of products containing GMO's, suppliers have been able to legitimately label their products 'GM Free' even if these products contain GMOs!  The first tests done by the University of the Orange Free State, GMO Testing Lab, Dr Chris Viljoen, reveal these anomalies. 

In 2009 the Consumer Protection Bill was signed into an Act. This Act now calls for the mandatory labelling and liability of foods containing genetically modified organisms. The Regulations for this Act are currently being written (September 2009). Once these Regs come out, SAFeAGE will be relying on its supporters to lobby for its recommendations to the Regs to be accepted. Industry is hard at work to water down the Clauses calling for labelling. They want a blanket statement on all products saying "This product MAY contain GMO". This is not good enough for South African consumers. We want a threshold of 0.9% the same as the EU. Anything over and above 0.9% GMO, is to be labelled "This product contains GMO". 

An Extract from the report by Dr Viljoen around the first tests reveals that  "90% of soy products and 61% of maize products tested contained GMOs. That’s despite South Africa only growing 50% of GM soy, 10%GM white maize and 24% of GM yellow maize.” 

So what can we, as consumers, do?

1. Make sure your details on the SAFeAGE database are accurate and up to date. Do this by visiting 'Join the Mailing List' link on our webpage.
2. Print a list of non-GM brands and take it to the supermarket with you
3. Use sustainable alternatives, eg. organics;
4. Take action to demand labelling of GM foods;
5. Make a donation to SAFeAGE to enable us to keep up our work