(Jamaica Observer) The Scientific Research Council (SRC) will next year start testing imported foods to determine whether they have been genetically modified (GM).
Executive director of the SRC Dr Audia Barnett, who made this disclosure during the Observer Monday Exchange meeting of reporters and editors, said the decision comes in light of global consumer concerns over GM foods, which are not mandated by law to have labelling.
“We have to start screening the products on our shelves to see if we can confirm this because we realise they don’t require labels. There’s no law, and that is something we’re quite concerned about,” said Barnett. “The only thing to help the consumer is actually taking up the product at random and checking to see if it has GM components so that the consumer can make an informed decision.”
GM foods are typically defined as those edible plants and meats whose DNA has been radically modified through genetic engineering techniques. These artificially mutated foods have long been the source of unresolved controversy both in developed and developing countries, given the uncertainty of their long-term effects on humans and food chains.