European certification business Cert ID Europe, with food science consultancy HACCP Australia,  launched the first non-GMO certification program for the Australian food industry. (HACCP stands for hazard analysis and critical control points and  is a systematic preventive approach to food safety.)

GMO-ID Australia is a food-science based consultancy that specialises in non-GMO identity preservation and administration of Non-GMO standards. On their website they provide the following rationale:

The development of new GM crops and claims that GM can solve global food problems are now common place. However, while consumers and retailers alike demand Non-GMO products, there is a global challenge to food manufacturers to protect the supply chain from GM contamination.

A Consumer Attitude Survey carried out by GfK NOP, which was commissioned by Friends of the Earth and GM Freeze, published in September 2010 concludes that of those surveyed:

• 72% would pay extra for Non-GMO Food

• 89% want meat from animals fed on GM feed to be labelled

• 66% would prefer to buy meat from animals fed a Non-GMO diet

The Non-GMO Standard is recognised within the industry as the benchmark for Non-GMO identity preservation.  Its approach  moves standalone Identity preservation systems based upon testing into a quality assurance approach, integrating HACCP with PCR testing as validation throughout the whole supply chain.

The aim of the standard is to provide organisations with independent, third-party certification verifying that their production and handling systems, quality systems, internal controls and products are “Non-GMO”.

(PCR – polymerase chain reaction – testing is a way of amplifying DNA to compare it with DNA from a known source and is part of the process of non-GMO certification.)