GREENPEACE has criticized two international food companies which promised not to use any genetically modified (GM) ingredients in European markets while still selling non-labelled GM food in China.

From December, 2004 to January of this year, Greenpeace investigators randomly selected 28 food products in markets in Beijing and Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, and had them tested by GeneScan, an international testing company.

The testing found that Kraft Food's Ritz crackers and Campbell's Golden Corn soup contain ingredients made from GM soybean, Greenpeace's Ma Tianjie said.

"We are asking these companies not to sell GM food in China, as consumers deserve the same rights and safety standards everywhere," he said.

Last year, Nescafe was found to be using double-standard policies for European markets and the Chinese market, which triggered a series of complaints from consumers in China.

In recent years, Chinese people's resistance to genetically modified food has increased. A survey conducted by Greenpeace recently in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou found that 57 per cent of people said they were more willing to buy natural foods without GM ingredients even if they cost 10 per cent more than their GM counterparts, up from 40 per cent in a similar survey conducted by the environmental group in 2004.

The survey polled 200 people in each of the three cities. About 62 per cent of respondents said they were aware of GM food, compared with 52 per cent in the previous survey.

(Star News)