BY JOANNA BLYTHMAN

A very serious attack on traditional food and farming is underway, a major threat to the artisanal, non-GMO, organic, and traditional food sectors. Here below is what you need to know and do, urgently, to defend your right to eat time-honoured ingredients in their natural forms and protect authentic small-scale food culture. This government intends to force genetically modified organisms (GM) food onto our plates- UNLABELLED. It is about to announce a package of statutory instruments to the Genetic Technology Act that includes permissions for GM so-called ‘precision bred’ (PBO) farm animals as well as the final scanty marketing requirements for PBO plant and animal foods. Despite consistent, unwavering public opposition to GM food since 1999, when, following their customers’ clear wishes, supermarkets adopted no-GM policies, the powerful genetic engineering lobby has never given up. It has manoeuvred behind the scenes to sidestep public resistance by assuring regulators that ‘precision-bred’ foods (PBOs) are a new category of GM that does not need to be labelled because they are genetically indistinguishable from traditional ones. Even though the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) own public consultation found that 8 out of 10 of us want to see food produced using these novel techniques clearly labelled, our apology for a food watchdog has not exerted its independence and challenged the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs @DefraGovUK on PBO labelling. The Food Standards Agency @foodgov is also telling retailers that “precision breeding should be viewed as a traditional food, just with a new technique”. It is also pedalling the lie that PBOs can’t be detected – even though it recently (quietly) published a report showing they can. This apparent reassurance is wilfully misleading. So-called precision breeding makes radical changes to foods that could not happen in nature. It can change common foods in unprecedented, unpredictable, potentially disastrous ways that would irrevocably disturb how our genes function.

These interventions could trigger many grave health problems, such as creating unexpected toxins and allergens. When the US Health Research Institute compared ‘precision fermented’ milk against normal organic and biodynamic milk, it found 92 compounds previously unknown to science in the former. None had been evaluated for safety. The PB milk also had an inferior nutritional composition, notably less riboflavin (vitamin B2). If this new look genetic engineering push is not defeated, you won’t know if you are buying or consuming genetically altered PB foods. Farmers won’t know if they are feeding genetically altered PB feedstuffs to their animals. Imports of cheap gene edited crops will undercut our already battered farmers. Companies with existing GM-free policies will no longer be able to guarantee them because novel PBO ingredients will have polluted the food chain. The current government is trying to force these regulatory changes through before the next election and the Labour Party currently says that reversing this unpopular policy is not one of its priorities. This is not good enough. There is a chance to stop this happening Here’s what you can do ….. Beyond GM has made it easy to take action and write to your MP now using their e-action page: https://beyond-gm.org/take-action-tell-your-mp-precision-bred-gmos-must-be-labelled…. We must show those in power that this is an issue of concern for everyone who eats. We must tell them that we expect them to uphold the will of the majority.

Joanna Blythman is an award-winning investigative journalist, the author of seven landmark books on food issues, and one of the most authoritative, influential commentators on the British food chain. Her writing covers a broad sweep of subjects, encompassing topics as diverse as supermarket domination, the environmental impact of salmon farming, the validity of healthy eating advice, farm animal cloning, and the causes of food price rises and obesity. Joanna’s writing offers a 360 degree angle on the big food questions of the day. She is also a highly regarded restaurant reviewer.