Shoppers do not avoid GM labels

EUROPEANS who said they would not buy GM-labelled goods did not actively avoid them when they became available in supermarkets.

“Responses given by consumers when prompted by questionnaires about GM foods are not a reliable guide to what they do when shopping in grocery stores,” was the conclusion of Kings College London researchers.

Most of the labelled GM foods on sale were oils from GM soy, sold as cooking oil or incorporated into other products like margarine.

In 2004, the EU adopted the compulsory labelling of food products with genetically modified content in any ingredient. By the end of 2005, labelled GM foods were on sale in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Britain.

Surveys have generally indicated that people would not buy GM foods, if they had the chance.

But the researchers, co-ordinated by Professor Vivian Moses, went one step further, by examining consumers’ shopping habits in familiar stores.

Friends of the Earth anti-GMO campaigner Helen Holder questioned the scope of the study, since it covered only six countries and very few products.

She said the central issue is the visibility of GM labels.

“Small print on the back of a product does not encourage people to know what they are buying.”

The researchers said shoppers pay scant attention to GM labels. But they seemed to choose GM-free labelled products with greater thought.