As Tsutomu Shigeta answered questions during a visit to a farm near Saskatoon recently, there was one phrase that didn’t need translation.
Sprinkled throughout his Japanese sentences was the familiar English-language term “GMO”.
Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, are a big issue for the millers represented by Shigeta, executive director of the Japanese Flour Millers Association.
Japanese consumers have always been sensitive about food quality and safety, he said, and as the GMO issue has heated up in Europe, there has been growing pressure from consumer groups in Japan.
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“We must be aware of the consumer reaction,” he said through a translator. “Now a number of consumers feel very strongly that they should not be forced involuntarily to consume GMOs.”
Japan imports a variety of GMO products, including soybeans, corn and Canadian canola. The Japanese government has responded to pressure by initiating discussions with food industry representatives and other interested groups on labeling of GMO products.
Shigeta said millers are caught in the middle, trying to strike a balance between competing demands from each end of the food chain.
On the one hand, they recognize why producers in Canada and the United States want to grow GMO crops that have better disease resistance or herbicide tolerance.
“So they may be good for farmers, but increased consumer concern for health and safety must be kept in mind,” he said. “It is a big challenge for processors.”
Shigeta said if millers are forced to segregate GMO and non-GMO wheat flour, it could mean higher costs, higher prices and reduced consumption.
Nevertheless, he said that while the practice of pooling wheat into bulk export shipments has economic advantages, it may be necessary to devise a system with some segregation and identity preservation.
David Iwaasa, general manager of the Canadian Wheat Board’s Tokyo office, said the board is repeatedly asked by Japanese wheat buyers how far Canada is toward growing GMO wheat and how the product will be handled and marketed.
“It’s clearly a difficult issue for them,” Iwaasa said, noting there is political pressure from the U.S. government to approve GMOs.
