Woolworths answers my GM query.

Discussion in 'The big picture' started by mouseinthehouse, Jun 3, 2013.

  1. mouseinthehouse

    mouseinthehouse Junior Member

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    On the weekend I bought a 1litre bottle of Homebrand Canola oil to treat mites on my chooks' legs.

    I pondered whether the Canola oil was made using GM Canola. So I emailed Woolworths on Sunday with my question.

    To their credit they replied this morning (Monday). Here is their reply.

    Thank you for taking the time to contact Woolworths.

    We are proud to be Australia’s Fresh food people and appreciate your enquiry regarding the use of Genetically Modified (GM) ingredients in our products.


    Woolworths’ own-brand products, which include Select, Homebrand, Gold and Macro, as well as our fresh produce, do not use GM ingredients. Our requirement on GM ingredients is articulated to our own-brand suppliers in our Brand Guidelines and Woolworths Quality Assurance (WQA) Standard.

    The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code stipulates the labelling requirements for food for retail sale, and requires products which contain GM food or ingredients to include a statement ‘genetically modified’ in conjunction with the name of that food or ingredient, either on the label or in connection with the display of the food. This allows our customers to make informed choices regarding the food they buy.

    Woolworths complies with these prescribed mandatory labelling requirements for all our own labels and brands.


    Thank you again for contacting Woolworths.

    I am actually embarrassed to admit that I didn't know about the labelling standard here regarding GM ingredients. :blush:
     
  2. permasculptor

    permasculptor Junior Member

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    Gm oils do not require labeling.
    from FSANZ
    Exemptions from GM labeling
    GM foods that do not contain any novel DNA or protein or altered characteristics do not require labelling. A decision not to label these foods was made because the composition and characteristics of these foods is exactly the same as the non-GM food. These foods are typically highly refined foods, such as sugars and oils, where processing has removed DNA and protein from the food, including novel DNA and novel protein.
    Flavours containing novel DNA or protein in a concentration of no more than 0.1% are also exempt from labelling.
    Labelling is also not required when there is no more than 1% (per ingredient) of an approved GM food unintentionally present as an ingredient or processing aid in a non-GM food. This means labelling is not required when a manufacturer genuinely orders non-GM ingredients but finds that up to 1% of an approved GM ingredient is accidentally mixed in non-GM ingredient.
     
  3. mouseinthehouse

    mouseinthehouse Junior Member

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    U huh! Thanks for that. Well that is interesting. I guess beyond labelling what is in the actual product (in this case no GM constituents) then a retailer has no obligation to inform or even know whether an oil product is derived from a GM crop.

    Well I might get back to the helpful Customer Care team member with a re-worded enquiry and see what happens!
     
  4. matto

    matto Junior Member

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    Good one!

    Another cracker at the 2011 Food Labelling Review I went to, was Fran Murrell from MADGE asked the panel what the symbol for GM products is already in Australia. Not one knew... there is one but you wont see it on anything because of how we see they get around labelling.

    Would have been nice if it was the cross-bones!
     
  5. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    sounds like a form answer.

    they really would have no idea where the grain came from to make any of their oils, and the food standard code does not require that sort of information about what is in any product once it has gone past 1st stage, as most rape, canola and soy is not GMO their product will contain GMO, and labeling again does not require they need to know let alone their customers. like hot bread kitchens bloomed with the advent of gm fast yeast and ok! they say they add no chemicals at dough making time of course they don't the preservative chemicals are added in at the flour blending mill so again there needs to be no label disclosure and if teh baker knew he would have no obligation to tell his clients, same with woolies and coles.

    ANSFA gives us no protection.

    len
     
  6. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    i have a response on teh desk, but just as a point of interest maybe, there is a canola harvest been in silo since december last year, unless i saw wrong there was steam coming off of it, if so that would mean it is mulching, but anyway this sort of stuff will end up in the food chain somewhere.

    take care

    len
     
  7. Raymondo

    Raymondo Junior Member

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    The Crisco brand says non GM canola oil, but this isn't really enough. It needs to say made from non GM canola. I might write to Crisco and ask for clarification.
     
  8. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    that's where labeling lets us down raymondo, first level labeling says whom ever produced the oil does not need to tell crisco where the grain came from as there will be a level there where to oil is bottled and then labelled that is level 2, i would even doubt if crisco would know plus most of these grains are GMO grains.

    we sue aussie olive oils as far as we are aware there in no GMO in olives, at least.

    so dunno can O/O be used for chook mites? is it oils ain't oils stuff?

    len
     
  9. mouseinthehouse

    mouseinthehouse Junior Member

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    So after my second email I received a reply yesterday but they basically repeated the answer that I first received.

    I sent a third email clarifying and re-iterating what is was I was actually asking and explaining why they had not answered my second query.

    Today I get a Woolworths Customer Feedback Survey email (in which I see I have a case number!) asking for my thoughts on their Customer Service and whether my query has been answered satisfactorily. I duly filled this out with additional notes in the places provided. Now to see what comes next!
    I am having fun.
     
  10. Tulugaq

    Tulugaq Junior Member

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    Pretty much all canola grown on the eastern side of Australia is GM. Sadly, that which isn't will have a level of GM contamination.

    If you drive from Melbourne to Sydney you see canola growing along the road side the entire way from spilt seed. If you look at the roadsides, grassy median strips and even grassed roundabouts in Canberra you see a lot of canola growing. All of this is from spilt seed. This acts as a reservoir of GM canola which pollinates any non GM canola to some degree.

    I live in a grain growing area, they grow a lot of GM canola out here. One of my neighbours who grows a lot of canola said that there is no non-GM canola in Australia anymore. While I think that may be an exaggeration, I do not see how there can be any non GM canola products unless it is made overseas from their seed.
     
  11. mouseinthehouse

    mouseinthehouse Junior Member

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  12. Farside

    Farside Junior Member

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    This reminds me of the whole trans fat and cholesterol labelling issue. Ever wonder why all these chips and other processed foods managed to remove all there harmful products overnight?

    The labelling laws were amended so that any ingredient under a certain nominal amount per serving doesn't need to be labelled. The manufacturers then lowered the amount of product that represented a serving, so that these ingredients fell under the threshold.

    A far from honest response, but it happens everywhere in all things I'm afraid. Look at how auto mobiles meet European emissions standards.
     
  13. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    g'day farside,

    over heare i think they are called anzfa, an aussie NZ conglomeration supposed to keep our food safe. at that time our prime minister a little garden gnome called how 'ard, put into legislation a rule supported by anzfa, that is there is levels of labeling and any nasty stuff GMO fatty acids only needs to be shown on the 1st level labeling not on 2nd or 3rd levels, so that means teh processor who buy product to make product is the only person who needs to know and they could care less. why hot bread shops can say they don't add preservatives etc.,. etc.,. because they don't all sugar, salt and nasties is added at the blending mill then the bakery networks buy it(1st label) for their distribution network(2nd label) then sell it to bakery(3rd label), so even if bake knows he would not say. i know they use preservative, and enhancers to keep bread soft and fresh up to 2 weeks, enhancers have a relation ship with brake fluid or anti-freeze chemicals if i recall correctly, 10 or so years ago i was researching chem's in dog wash, and found all this amazing how many related chem's are used in food, aspartame is from the formaldahyde family and formaldahyde banned in funeral parlours now.

    at teh time i think a chat here or als people most upset and anzfa letting us down. too late now the horse has well and truly bolted, they now use industrial waste flouride into our water, well not ours we use rain water.

    take care

    len
     
  14. mouseinthehouse

    mouseinthehouse Junior Member

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    Received my final reply from Woolworth Customer Care and to give them their due they at least stuck with it and kept up the correspondence which is more than you can say for many large corporates these days. Here is their reply:

    Thank you for your query.


    Due to the volatile nature of Canola crops, in order to enable continuity of supply of Canola Oil, some of our Homebrand suppliers source from multiple origins for processing. Because of the large volumes of vegetable oil that is refined, they are not able to segregate the product and are not able to confirm if the canola oil is derived from GMO canola crops.


    Once again thank you for taking the time out to email us with your queries, If you shall need any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us again.


    I thanked them and pointed out that I would not be purchasing their product in future due to the uncertain nature of its' origins.
     
  15. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    that's about as good as can be expected from local level.

    so to be reasonably taken all their products contain at least GMO's

    len
     
  16. annette

    annette Junior Member

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    Hi Mouse

    Was in woollies yesterday and saw that all their select brand had non gmo on their labels. Would it be alright if I put their response to you on my facebook? Very annoyed they are doing this.
     
  17. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    annette,

    once on the shelf that would be at least second level labellings or even 3rd level, they can tell you anything really. if you are going to sue soy, canola and rape seed oil they are bound to come from GMO crops, and as i mentioned somewhere there si canola seed sitting in a silo from last december so far unsold, be nice and fresh by now hey?

    len
     
  18. annette

    annette Junior Member

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    Hi Len

    Yes enough to make you want to vomit. I'm fed up with the deceit. I never use canola oil, I stick with olive or coconut oil.
     
  19. mouseinthehouse

    mouseinthehouse Junior Member

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    Yes you can certainly put Woolworths reply to me on Facebook. They will play on semantics though - there is no GMO dna in their Canola oil and that is all that the labelling standards cover; the actual presence in the product of GMO material (either none or within very small parameters). They are under no obligation to make it clear if the product is derived from GM crops if it contains no GM material. Which you and I and many others would take issue with. Go for it! One thing I have learnt too, is that GM yeasts and other GM micro-organisms play a huge part in cheese and bread making worldwide (about 70-80% of cheese in Europe and US) and also many alcoholic beverages. I don't think that is widely known at all.
    Also, I note that the Homebrand Canola Oil bottle I have does not say Non GMO but their Select lline does.
     
  20. annette

    annette Junior Member

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    Bloody hell. Cheese and alcohol, 2 of my favourite things!! I didn't know and now I wish I didn't! lol. Will have to look into making my own. I've posted woollies response on my facebook. Thanks Mouse
     

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