GM Foods (Be careful of these friends
Oils:
56 per cent (9/16) of oil samples tested were GM positive.
• Four out of seven tested canola oil (rapeseed) samples were positive. Thesewere imported from Canada (Canola, Jivo) and the UAE (Hudson, Farell).
• All five samples of cottonseed oil from India were GM positive. The brands included Tirupati, Ankur, Ginni and Vimal. The sole sample of crude cottonseed oil was also positive.
• No GM-positive packaged oil sample mentioned GM ingredients on its label.
• Samples of soya bean oil and blended oil (corn and rice bran) that were sourced from India were not found to be GM positive.
Packaged foods:
25 per cent (10/39) of packaged food samples tested GM
positive.
• About 50 per cent (10/21) of the imported samples tested were positive.
These included two ready-to-eat and eight ready-to-cook samples. Most of these positive samples were corn based.
• Nine out of 10 of these brands were imported from the US, including Kellogg’s Froot Loops cereal, American Garden popcorn, Mrs. Cubbison’s Croutons Toast Bread, Trix Corn Puffs, Mori-Nu tofu, Bugles corn snacks, and Karo, American Garden and Aunt Jemima corn-based syrups. The remaining brand from Thailand is PromPlus sweet whole kernel corn.
• The label of two out of 10 GM-positive foods had claimed no use of GM ingredients but was found to be positive (Mori-Nu tofu and PromPlus sweet whole kernel corn) and the labels of four mentioned use of GM ingredients.
• No Indian packaged food sample tested was GM positive.
Infant food:
25 per cent (2/8) samples tested were GM positive.
• Both positive samples were imported and marketed by the same company (Abbott Healthcare Pvt. Ltd). One (Similac Isomil), which is imported from the Netherlands, is a lactose-free infant milk-substitute soy infant formula.
The other (Similac Alimentum), imported from the US, is a hypoallergenic infant formula.
• No positive sample mentioned GM on its label more