THE demand that restaurants identify genetically modified ingredients in their menus - to be made mandatory in Britain - will be considered as part of the Government's consultation process on GM foods, it has been confirmed. This is due to be completed over the next two months.
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, who is co-ordinating the process, would, nonetheless, be making a "substantive contribution" and outlining his current thinking on GM foods in a Dail debate due on Thursday, a Department of the Environment spokesman said yesterday.
In response to Superquinn's decision to remove GM ingredients from its own brand range, Monsanto's business manager in Ireland, Dr Patrick O'Reilly, has said "not one example of any damage to human or environmental health by GM foods has been authenticated" over the past 25 years.
Gene technology offered real potential to reduce levels of pesticide and other harmful residues, "something which opponents of GM foods inexplicably ignore", he claimed.
Monsanto supported labelling of GM foods "which provide important safety or nutritional information to consumers" that is scientifically based, Dr O'Reilly said.
