'GM-free' soy drink claims deceptive, watchdog says

The consumer watchdog has called for mandatory labelling of all food products with genetically modified ingredients after finding some so-called 'GM-free' soy drinks actually contained a significant amount of the material.

The Consumer Council tested 50 soy drinks - including ready-to-drink and powder - from supermarkets, convenience stores and other retail outlets. Half of them had at least a trace of GM materials, but none of them said so on the packaging. Thirteen claimed they were 'GM-free'.

Four samples contained quantifiable amounts of GM elements.

Chiba Soybean Milk contained 1.1 per cent of GM elements, the largest amount in all samples. Yon Ho Soybean Drink and Tai Wo Soybean Milk claimed to be 'non-GMO', even though they contained 0.2 to 0.5 per cent of GM elements.

Hong Kong has no specific legislation governing the sale and labelling of GM food. Voluntary labelling guidelines set in 2006 by the Centre for Food Safety suggest a 'genetically modified' tag for products exceeding 5 per cent GM components.

'Although there is no immediate proof of any health hazard caused by eating GM food, consumers have the right to know the truth and make their personal choices,' said Ambrose Ho Pui-him, chairman of the council's publicity and community relations committee.

He said the use of absolute labelling such as 'GM free' or 'contains no GM soy' was misleading because a zero GM level was very difficult to achieve, given the prevalence of modified soyabeans in world markets.