GMO-free rice restos
campaign launched

ENVIRONMENTAL watchdog Greenpeace yesterday launched its campaign for restaurants to serve only rice that are free from genetically-modified organisms (GMOs).

The campaign, dubbed "I love my rice GMO-free," was launched at the Fish and Co. restaurant in Ortigas Center and seeks to gather the commitment of restaurants around the country to serve only GMO-free rice.

Fish and Co. is part of the Bistro Group of Companies which includes Italiani’s, TGI Friday’s and Flapjacks.

Aside from pledging to serve only GMO-free rice, the Bistro Group has committed to display ‘I love my rice GMO-free’ posters in all their 27 outlets and distribute campaign brochures as part of the awareness drive. During the press conference, the food company served representative rice dishes from each of their five restaurant branches.

Daniel Ocampo, Greenpeace Southeast Asia Genetic Engineering campaigner, said Greenpeace is talking with 10 leading fast food joints, alternative restaurants, and organic restaurants in Metro Manila and Southern Luzon to join their campaign and this will be announced in the next few weeks.

Ocampo also said the green group is negotiating with two of the country’s top fast food chains to join the GMO-free rice campaign.

He said rice is part of the Philippines’ heritage, because it is the center of diversity of rice due to the presence of many varieties in the country.

He said the GMO-free rice restaurant campaign "recognizes the role of food companies." "We have the right to choose what and where we eat," he added.

Lisa Ronquillo, Bistro Group marketing director, said the food chain approached Greenpeace a month ago because it wanted to join the "green campaign" but didn’t know how to go about it.

"This is our first initiative to go green…but it’s a long-term commitment that will involve not only rice," Ronquillo said.

GMOs are plants or animals whose DNA have been manipulated to accommodate genes from entirely different species, such as a rice crop inserted with genes from a bacteria or an animal. Governments recognize the dangers of GMOs, that’s why these crops are highly regulated.

Greenpeace said GMO food crops pose risks to health and no long-term health studies have ever been conducted.

Greenpeace said no GMO rice has been approved for human consumption or propagation in the Philippines, but GMO rice from the United States have slipped into the country at least twice, despite measures by the National Food Authority to ensure that US rice imports is GMO-free.

At present, an application for the approval of a GMO rice variety is lodged at the Department of Agriculture.

Ocampo said so far there is no commercially available GMO rice in the Philippines because Greenpeace has filed an injunction against the application of Bayer.

He said the rice from Vietnam and Thailand that the Philippines is importing is GMO-free because of the commitment from both countries not to trade GMO rice.

But he said the P25/kilo rice imported from the US which is being sold by the National Food Authority (NFA) showed some contamination because it was sourced from Arkansas and other Southern states.

Lea Guerrero, Greenpeace media campaigner, said Greenpeace had two kilos of the cheap rice tested in Japan and it showed contamination. He said while the rice passed US standards, these fail when pitted against stricter European standards which were used in Japan.