SAGFIN How to Avoid GM Food

To avoid GM foods:

• Be very wary of processed foods.
• Be aware that many labels are so vague that you cannot work out the source of ingredients such as "vegetable oils" or "thickeners" and processing agents are not listed.
• Anything that is "Product of Australia" which doesn't contain cottonseed products, canola products or unspecified vegetable oils should be ok.
• Organic certification in Australia precludes GM contamination. This is NOT the case with American organic produce.
• Most GM crops are grown in the USA - avoid American imports in particular.
• Milk products from the US can be from cows treated with GM growth hormone.

Note: there is no labelling of animal products (meat, eggs, dairy) from animals fed GM foodstuffs, and pork can be treated with GM growth hormones.

GM foods to watch for are:

• Bacterial Starter Cultures and Enzymes – cheese and fermented and leavened products
• Canola - "vegetable oils", canola oil, baked and fried goods, margarines, salad dressings, lethicin
• Corn/Maize - corn flour, corn oil, corn protein, corn syrup, corn starch, glucose, maltodextrin, dextrose, modified starches, thickeners, additives, corn products e.g. corn flakes etc.
• Cottonseed products - oil as 'vegetable oil" in many baked goods, take away fried foods, salad dressings etc., thickeners (linters) - thickened processed foods e.g. icecreams and many others, and sausage casings.
• Fungal Enzymes and Yeasts – bread, beer, fruit juices
• Lucerne – animal feed, alfalfa sprouts, tea
• Processed potato products – potato starch, modified starch, thickeners
• Rice – gluten free products, baby cereal, rice crackers, rice bran oil, thickening agents
• Soy products- soymilks, tofu, soy protein, soy flour, soy or vegetable oils, lecithin, various food additives, processing aids; soy protein isolates in processed foods such as bread, smallgoods and processed meats, soups, vegetarian foods, infant cereals and formulas, and ice creams.
• Sugarbeet – sugar, MSG
• Vitamins - some are produced by GMOs. So are some processing aids.