New Delhi, 8 September 2009: Food products of Nestlé, Cadbury, Kellogg, Britannia, and Safal are among a ‘red list’ in a guide on GM-free food released by Greenpeace here today. The ‘Safe Food Guide‘, is a first of its kind in India, and ranks 16 well-known food brands.
The guide comes at a time when the Union Government is in the verge of approving genetically modified Bt Brinjal. Following-Bt Brinjal, there are close to 40 other food crops, like rice, tomato, mustard, and potato, which the government may approve.
“The safety of GE crops as a foodstuff for animals and humans is unknown and the testing regimes are inadequate. Studies on laboratory animals (rats) have pointed out potential health risks, including allergies, abnormal growth of organs such as liver and kidney and many unpredictable effects. Therefore, this guide has an important role to inform consumers,” Jai Krishna of Greenpeace India said while releasing the guide.
The guide also comes in a pocket-sized version and lists companies based on their responses to Greenpeace. Companies like MTR, Dabur, Haldiram’s, ITC Foods, PepsiCo India, and Ruchi Soya are in the ‘green list’ based on their stand that their products are GM-free as of today.
In the ‘red list’ are Nestlé, Hindustan Unilever, Kellogg, Cadbury, Agro Tech Foods Ltd, FieldFresh Foods Pvt Ltd (a unit of Bharti Enterprises), Bambino Agro Industries Ltd, Britannia Industries Ltd, Godrej Hershey Foods, Parle, and Safal.
Bejon Misra, Managing Trustee, Healthy You Foundation, received the first copy of the guide.”“It is an excellent tool for the consumers to become aware about GMO’s and this initiative by Greenpeace has brought these positions of food brands in the open. This would empower consumers to make an informed choice,” Misra said.
Greenpeace demands that:
i) food businesses adopt a no-GM policy, because of the risks to health and environment, and
ii) take proactive steps to inform consumers about the presence or absence of GM ingredients in their products.
For more information:
Syed Mehaboob, Communications Officer syed.mehaboob@greenpeace.org 097313 01983
Notes to the Editor:
1. Genetically modified foods are manufactured by inserting genes from unrelated organisms into food plants like vegetables and rice. They are unnatural and unpredictable, and can cause irreversible contamination. Many governments have avoided approval of such foods. As of 2008, about two and a half percent of the world’s arable land is under GM crops.
Hi,
I few months ago I contacted Nestle to get clarification on the 2 minute Maggi campaign.
I asked them is it really possible to cook a pack of Maggi noodles in 2 min. I requested them to make public their lab test (if any) about the size of the pan and flame temperature.
A lot of cooking fuel can be saved in this poor country if people like me knew how to cook maggi in 2 minutes as claimed.
There was no response from them.
I guess 2 minute claim is only to mislead consumers in India and Nestle does not make any such claim in other countries. I don’t wish to be treated as a foolish consumer so I stopped eating maggi and switched to other brands.
Stop treating us like pigs
What kind of **** is this. We Indians are not testing rats. You better make your animal test on somebody else or on own country people.
Shame on Nestle to sell the product with such an agreement.
This is a real shame.
Really?? Like I give a damn. I stopped eating NESTLE, Britannia and Cadburys years ago and trust me, GM is the last of your concerns when you are eating Nestle.
Maggi still contains MSG. YES even their “No added Msg” Labelled noodles and soups still contain MSG. They just call it E627(and E678).
They are doing this BECAUSE WE DESERVE IT.
It is only in India where the consumers defend the right of the company to add MSG and Pesticides(yes one coke drinking says that if pesticides are not used coke will get spoiled).
We deserve this. When we are eating their MSG tainted food(which they cannot sell in europe) when MSG is banned do you think they will stop at GM food.
Nestle is the largest imported of chinese milk powder(remember the melamine poisoning).
Their sales did drop at all. Whereas in other parts of the world Nestle products sales dropped.
I have been against GM food, MSG and food additives.(like color, preservatives and had oils/fats) but I have been ridiculed and made fun of my the rest of the Indian population.
I called “Organic” and no its not a compliment it is how I am ridiculed.
I did not send any mail to Nestle. I will never send any mail
I am more involved in the Organic movement and getting a regular supply of organic food in India(and for me eat) As anything labelled Organic cannot be GM or contain any additive(even though Fab India breaks this rule from time to time).
So I would want to restrict myself to the betterment of the small community who is believes in eating organic and healthy food. The rest of the people can die eating GM food and MSG(other food addtives) laced food. I care a damn.
I think only when enough of them die will they wake.
Or else right if you try to tell educate them they will only make fun of you and scorn you.
So I say rightly deserved Indians deserves S@#*.
Like I mentioned earlier the GM content in Nestle is the last of our worries.
Maggi noodles is the worst food you could give you kid(and yourself). It contains MSG(Hidden as E621 and E67 I got the number wrong in the earlier post). It is coated with wax. The flour in that is highly processed and unhealthy.
There is not an ounce of nutrition in it and to make it worse Maggi has been conducting one of the biggest misleading campaigns ever(see first comment). Noodles cook instantly infact fresh noodles cook faster that dried instant noodles.
Now anyone who has made maggi in their life knows that it does not cook in two minutes. I have made fresh noodles and it cooks exactly in 5 minutes.(in fact a friend of mine brings diced vegetable from the market and makes her own tastemaker masala from spice and stores it, Whenever she wants a quick meal she takes local homemade noodles and whips up something much healthier in the same time).
I think WE SHOULD BOYCOTT NESTLE.
Since it is not only about GM.
Even Britannia and cadburies use Dalda, and artificial flavourings and colors(which are cancer causing agents).
Only if we boycotts them
We DO NOT NEED MAGGI and WE DEFINITELY DO NOT NEED ANOTHER FAMOUS NESTLE PRODUCT. that is BABY FOOD.
MOTHERS MILKS IS THE BEST and after that freshly made baby food from fresh vegetables and organic ragi, wheat flour is best.
JUST BOYCOTT NESTLE. Like many other have
good information. Our media should have more focus on these issues where lakhs and lakhs of people get affected.
Nestle milk products are contaminated with melamine powder.Indians consumer are far behind EU or US when it comes to selecting branded products off the shelf.Many a times people but without checking there Date of Manufacture and Best Before date.Next time atleast take some time to read food label and check their Dates.Please do NOT BUY nestle products as they try to misguide little enlighten Indian Consumer.
Nokia & other cell phone’s have inbuilt safety devices which protects against radiation
they are happily selling it with this feature all over world except india
in india they are selling it without any safety device as we indians dont know about them
plz do something about it
But we (internet surfers) are just a minuscule part of the population. What about making the Real population aware of this? Greenpeace should lead.
I and my kids liked Nestle’s – BarOne, Maggi, & Cadbury’s Dairy Milk very much but from today it’s a Big NO,
I had an idea that many products in the market had GM content, but never realised it was this widespread & specifically in India.
As consumers the best way to show these companies that we will not tolerate being treated like guinea pigs is to stop buying their products — until they start being more responsible towards their consumers as well as the environment.
I am gonna stop buying all products that might have GM content & especially from those companies which are on the ‘red list’
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Thanks for the info. Can’t believe these things happening really. I will make sure all my near dear ones say ‘NO’ to these nasty business policies and bullshit politics in India.
I decided not use Nestle until I get a clarification. I gave up my favorite Nest cafe too. I have the right to decide what I should eat. I don’t wish to be fooled for ever.
Why are we sending the email only to Nestle? why not to all the companies on the ‘red list’?
“In the ‘red list’ are Nestlé, Hindustan Unilever, Kellogg, Cadbury, Agro Tech Foods Ltd, FieldFresh Foods Pvt Ltd (a unit of Bharti Enterprises), Bambino Agro Industries Ltd, Britannia Industries Ltd, Godrej Hershey Foods, Parle, and Safal. ”
So why not to all these companies?
In my case i consume more Cadbury, Hindustan Unilever, Britannia and Parle foodstuff than Nestle.
Why this bias only against Nestle?
Hi Everyone,
I guess the prime questions are :
1) who (which department of GOI) is permitting them to sell these products in INDIA ?
2) Why should only Greenpeace lead the way ?
3) Why can’t we (so called Educated INDAINS) raise our voice …. ?
4) Why can’t we in our own areas hold a signature campaign and convince our MPs to take this matter up in Parliament ?
Pls. understand the onus is on us … we may avoid the brands for now, but it does not make INDIA GM free … we must start taking responsibilities … with responsibilities comes POWER … and yes we can DREAM of a better INDIA … cos we make it HAPPEN.
When i say ( so called Educated INDAINS), this also includes I.
Thanks for reading and if you have difference of opinion or would like to team up, you may write : devrat_dasgupta@yahoo.com
Devrat
Hi ALL!
Devrat, i agree, the onus is on US, not Greenpeace alone.
While the Safe Food Campaign targets those of us using PROCESSED FOODS in the cities primarily,it is very important for us to be aware how our Govt. is colluding in the most servile way with deceptive and downright criminal MNCs’ like Monsanto in their bid to contaminate India’s bio-diversity with GE junk— THE DANGER IS ALREADY AFOOT, and MAINLY BECAUSE OF UNREGULATED field trials, through which the normal safe non-GE plants get genetically contaminated through Cross-Pollination.
This is clearly documented and one of the reasons why all of Europe and Japan and New Zealand have said a clear NO to the entry of GM crops… We have seen some similar tragedies in India with more than 12,000 sheep and goats dying after grazing on BT Cotton fields in Andhra, Punjab,Maharashtra etc over the last 6 years.
So the time to get all the big-wig politicians and filmstars to push for MORATORIUM on GM foods AS CITIZENS, NOT as GREENPEACERS/ACTIVISTS is NOW.
To take online action– SEND A PETITION TO THE PM at http://WWW.IAMNOLABRAT.COM.
Here,you might also wanna watch Mahesh Bhatt’s short 30 minute excellent documentary POSION ON THE PLATTER.
I think this article is a big joke….how can PepsiCo India be part of green list??? No soft drink can be healthy irrespective of MSG. I hope the editor takes another look at the article.
This is good initiative…but very strange that our own people are not standing and coming out against this..surprisingly a few are working and I am sure there might also lying interest of either Money or Ego. The contamination of a food product can be treated and resolved but surprisingly no on talks of psycholigical and societycal etc contamination and any one talks about this is looked by some very casual level & engel..so lot is required but EGO does not allows…hence leaving this topic only with ???…???
Hello everyone. Like everyone else, I’m am a Nestle fan too. And if the claims made by Greenpeace are valid, then something must be done immediately.
HOWEVER, I’m at loss as to how Greenpeace came to the conclusion about their “Red List” companies. Its said in their guide that the Greenpeace guys asked these companies some questions and based on their response, they were classified as red or green list. But nowhere do I find the list of questions asked or the responses given by the companies. I would certainly like to know these before taking a stance. I would also like to know what are the parameters based on which Greenpeace makes their decision.
This is a grave issue we are facing here and if its true then it poses a great health risk to millions of Nestle consumers. However, as educated people, we should ensure that these claims are valid before accusing anyone. I hope Greenpeace puts up the info they have about these companies public for everyone to see and examine.
[...] NESTLE reluctant to GM-free September 13, 2009 uncertainitybeta1 Leave a comment Go to comments Greenpeace raises GM alert on top Indian foods [...]
We cannot trust nestle blindly. Nor can we trust greenpeace, without proof. In the article about china, there was clearly mentioned that lab tests revealed presence of GM substances. No such tests were mentioned in context of Indian “red/green lists”. Its not clear, who is right or wrong.
Since a doubt is created, I’ll not take any nestle products till nestle comes out with a clear proof that it does not use GM substance. If it does use it, then I’ll abstain till it stops using it.
ALL FOOD PROCESSED IN INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL PREMISES, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, IS DANGEROUS TO HEALTH. COOK YOUR FOOD YOURSELF FROM AS-ORGANIC-AS-POSSIBLE INGREDIENTS AND OTHER NATURAL INPUTS. iF YOU THINK THAT YOU WILL DIE OF STARVATION IF YOU DO NOT GET AND EAT NON-HOME AND PROCESSED FOOD, IT IS BETTER YOU DIE OF STARVATION INSTEAD OF SPENDING MILLIONS ON DISEASES, DOCTORS, ETC.
What are we left to eat? It looks like food terrorism (as there are many types of terrorism in this world), terrorist always do not have gun and wear hoods. HE WHO SUPPORTS THIS HARMFUL FOOD TO BE INTRODUCED TO KILL EVERY HUMAN BEING ON THIS EARTH SIMPLY FOR SOME EXTRA MONEY………ARE NOTHING BUT TERRORIST OF WORSE KIND AND THE ENEMY OF HUMAN RACE. OTHER TYPE WITH GUN YOU CAN SEE AND PROTECT YOURSELF, BUT THESE ARE INVISIBLE; CAUSE THEY DO NOT HOLD GUN.
So, now we the people have to decide for the people. God even can not help you unless you help yourself…….its time to WAKEUP. Too late is better than never.
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I was looking for haircut related products this was helpful
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