Changes in food-labelling legislation in the United States appear to have positive implications for New Zealand agriculture.
All food labelling laws will soon . . . [require] food companies to indicate if the product contains genetically engineered or modified ingredients.
In a report for ASB, Prof William Bailey, from Western Illinois University, said about 80% of food sold in the US contained GM ingredients, so the changes clearly affected a broad part of the US food system.
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Given that legislation, Prof Bailey questioned how far down the food chain mandatory labelling might go.
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If the US Government broadened its labelling requirements, product costs would increase and product prices would rise, opening the door for GM-free New Zealand products, he said.
”New Zealand’s production system was much more transparent than in the US, with no GM production and more of a focus on unprocessed or minimally processed foods,” he said.
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”As a consequence, as labelling requirements move down the food chain toward the paddock, New Zealand agriculture is in an excellent position to respond quickly, positively and profitably to those changes,” he said.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Label law could favour NZ
