GM-free certificates offered
Food companies are being offered the chance to have their products certified free of genetically modified (GM) ingredients.
The move comes after the new food safety chief rejected compulsory labelling.
In a global backlash against GM food and the companies that produce it, companies such as US-based Genetic ID are offering to certify that retailers' and food producers' products are GM-free.
'Hong Kong and China are waking up quickly to the GM issue. We continue to get inquiries,' Genetic ID vice-president Bill Thompson said.
He said firms used third-party certification to boost consumer confidence. Genetic ID has recently tested soya milk for Vitasoy to prove the company does not use modified beans.
Vitasoy has initiated a GM-free policy and is considering possible certification.
The certification process involves tracking and documenting entire product lines in the production chain from farms to retail shelves.
The new Secretary for Environment and Food, Lily Yam Kwan Pui-ying, last week rejected a Legco motion calling for enforced labelling, saying that there was no evidence from global health experts that GM food was dangerous.
ParknShop has promised 600 of its food products bearing the company logo will be GM-free in six months. But it said it was too early to consider certification.
The Thai and Brazilian governments, Britain's Sainsbury's supermarkets and Baldivis Estate Wines in Australia have set up certification procedures.
