Page 3619 - Week 08 - Thursday, 18 August 2011
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In light of the recently finalised National review of food labeling law and policy, the ACT Government is currently working on a response to the issues raised by the final review report and I expect that this response will cover the matters concerning GM food labeling. I believe that the commitment of the ACT Government to appropriate and adequate food labelling must be reflected through our involvement in the food labelling review and the processes of the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council regarding the national approach to regulating food labeling.
(4) There are currently no commercial grain crops grown in the ACT therefore no risk of contamination of commercial crops.
In the literature, there is some documented evidence of cross-pollination (the spreading of GM characteristics to other non-GM crops). Research is currently being undertaken to both identify the probability of cross-pollination and to identify effective and appropriate separation distances, to decrease the probability of cross-pollination to below a certain threshold level.
(5) (a) While there is some evidence in both national and international literature of cross-pollination, further research is required to identify the probability of cross-pollination occurring and strategies to reduce its likelihood.
(b) Food produced or imported for sale into Australia and New Zealand must comply with the food standards that are contained in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code). GM foods are regulated under Standard 1.5.2 – Food Produced Using Gene Technology of the Code. This Standard requires that before any GM food may enter the food supply FSANZ must conduct a pre-market assessment to evaluate the safety of the GM food. This process ensures that approved GM foods are as safe as conventional foods already in the food supply.
(6) The ACT Government is guided by the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code). In relation to the health marketing claims relating to ‘functional foods’, the ACT Government supports a national regulatory approach to develop a new Standard for nutrition and health claims. For consumer confidence to be maintained with respect to claims on food labels, the claims must provide accurate information that is from reputable sources and reproducible. It is understood that FSANZ continues its work on a review of the draft Standard for nutrition and health claims, taking into account the outcomes of an independent food labeling review, which were publicly released on 28 January 2011.
Cycling—Molonglo Valley
(Question No 1689)
Ms Bresnan asked the Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, upon notice, on 30 June 2011:
(1) Given the sustainability agenda that the Government is promoting for the new Molonglo Valley developments, does the Government also have specific transport modal split targets for this part of Canberra.
(2) What are these modal split targets, for both trips to work and all trips, for the Molonglo Valley for (a) public transport, (b) cycling, (c) walking and (d) car travel.
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