GM canola contamination discovered in Australian silos

 

 

GrainCorp confirmed that GM canola has been detected at two northern Victorian silos, an incident that is swiftly criticised by an anti-GM lobby group.

 

Independent tests have found small amounts of GM canola at Dunolly, west of Bendigo, and Lillimur near Nhill. GrainCorp said the amounts are below industry threshold levels and will not affect prices farmers are paid for grain crops.

 

Each silo had five tonnes of GM canola in a 500-tonne sample.

 

Anti-GM groups said growers are delivering GM canola to non-GM sites to reduce transport costs and get a price premium, an accusation that was denied by Graincorp corporate affairs manager David Ginns.

 

The incident is purely a mistake and there was nothing malicious or intentional behind it, according to Ginns.

 

There were vastly different interpretations of the detection of trace levels of the GM canola discovered in Victoria.

 

GM levels of 1%, just over the 0.9% limit set by the Australian Oilseeds Federation, were found in the samples.

 

But as these tests were found in 500-tonne running grade samples done by GrainCorp, and the bins storing the canola held 2,000 tonnes, and the other three 500-tonne samples done in the same bin tested negative for GM presence, it took the AP levels back down to 0.25%, well below the 0.9% standard.

 

This means the canola can still be marketed as non-GM under Australian industry standards.

 

Bob Phelps, director of anti-GM lobby group Gene Ethics, saw the incident as evidence that the Australian oilseeds industry was not committed to offering a non-GM product.

 

But the biggest question is whether grain buyers would accept the contaminated canola as a non-GM product.

 

Debate has raged among anti-GM campaigners and members of the supply chain on AP levels. Non-GM lobbyists have claimed AP levels will not be accepted in many markets, and a zero tolerance policy is required.

 

However, Elders Toepfer Grain (ETG), which announced earlier in the year that it would not be purchasing Australian GM canola this season due to requirements of major customers in Europe and Japan, said it would continue to purchase grain from the two sites.