GM-Free Chefs Charter

Can't believe how much time has passed since the last posting....the simple explanation is - the Bush Goddess has been frantic as the business is really starting to grow.

I love knowing many enterprises originated on the kitchen table with what we'd call amateur tools and systems which worked well enough to give the business its tenuous start.

Well ~ we've outgrown the kitchen table and now deep in contemplation regarding how we proceed with the next phase of expansion which includes upgrading infrastructure (vehicles and storage) to cope with the 300% increase in the amount of produce we are now handling each week. Not only has this occurred from new clients choosing to purchase the wonderful and GE-Free goods we source from passionate farming families, our Product Range has also increased substantially as we discover new suppliers AND, they discover the Bush Goddesses and ask us to promote their products - WHAT FUN !!

Integral to the Bush Goddess Foods ethos is providing guaranteed GE-Free foods to restaurants and educating chefs as to how to ask the right questions (from other suppliers) to ensure all the tucker they use is GE-Free.

Today, we attended an event in Canberra sponsored by Greenpeace, a tireless and intrepid campaigner against the commercialisation of GE-Food Crops. About forty people, representing many different organisations attended and heard presentations from Michelle Sheather (Greenpeace), Kyle Prowse (Chef and owner of Sage Restaurant), Michael Moore (Public Health Association) and Juliet McFarlane,(co-founder of the Network of Concerned Farmers).

Yesterday, Greenpeace released the results of a poll of 1200 participants surveyed regarding their views on GE-Foods with 90% declaring they do not want to eat them. This is very important feedback in regard to the almost non-existent labeling on food products at present as consumers are demanding more explicit information on foodstuffs so they can determine if and how much genetically engineered ingredients there are in that product.

Food Safety Australia & New Zealand (FSANZ) is the organisation responsible for determining what and how much information has to be included on any food label and they deem the regulations at present are adequate. This is in complete contrast to all the polls conducted by the True Food Guide - the only publication providing accurate and updated information from food manufacturers as to their stance and commitments to avoid all genetically engineered foodstuffs.

This is a call to action - to seek more passionate activists to write to the Australian Minister for Agriculture, Tony Burke, and ask him to reconsider his support for GE food crops so Australia can exploit the present (for a few more months) status of a relatively GE-free country so we can be one of the few - if not the only - large grower of GE-Free canola......a highly sought after product as it is in diminishing supply.

Please also write to FSANZ demanding more explicit labeling on all local and imported foodstuffs so the full extent of GE products are obvious and declared....the, and only then, can consumers make informed choices about what they really are eating.

Until all this happens, you can be sure you are eating GE-Free foods if..... you grow them yourselves; you buy Certified Organic; you know exactly where your foods originate and how they have been grown and from organisations who loudly and proudly proclaim they only deal in GE-Free produce......such as Bush Goddess Foods.

This is only the start of the iceberg as there are the contentious issues of chronic illnesses and woeful states of (preventable) ill-health and the links to highly processed and manufactured foods containing soy and corn derivatives....... the most widely grown GE crops in the world......

We shall continue........and all comments are welcomed to expand the debate and the knowledge on this subject.

Cheers and GE-Free feasting,

the bush goddess