OeTTINGER brand beer now 'GMO-free' worldwide
“GMO-free” OeTTINGER goes international: as with immediate effect, the OeTTINGER Brewery is also offering export beers carrying the “GMO-free” label. OeTTINGER products carrying the “GMO-FREE” label are successively available from retailers worldwide from the end of June.
“We regard it as an important and clear signal that the OeTTINGER brewery’s brand-name beers for export are now also carrying the “GMO-free” label,” states Alexander Hissting, Managing Director of the Association of Food without Genetic Engineering e.V. (VLOG), which awards the label. “We need global awareness and commitment to prevent long-term contamination of food by genetically modified organisms.”
In Germany, the entire OeTTINGER range of beer has carried the “GMO-FREE” seal since March 2013. OeTTINGER is therefore the first brewery to join the VLOG – Association of Food without Genetic Engineering e.V. For Jörg Dierig, CEO of the OeTTINGER Brewery, extending GMO-free labelling to export brand products is merely the next logical step: “It is not just in Germany that increasing importance is being attached to product quality, transparency of ingredients and the sustainable use of resources. We are therefore now also offering consumers world-wide the assurance that our beers are free of genetic engineering.”
Exacting demands: end-to end quality control
The “GMO-FREE” seal was introduced in 2009 by the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. The Association of Food without Genetic Engineering (VLOG) has been responsible for issuing the standard label since 2010. The Association places the high-est demands on manufacturers who wish to use the seal to guarantee end-to-end quality control. This includes mandatory statements from suppliers that their raw materials have not been genetically altered or contaminated by possible cross-contamination. Independent institutes regularly check the quality of the raw materials used. Continuous monitoring sys-tems also guarantee that the requirements for labelling are met. Compliance along the pro-cess chain is monitored by a certification institute.
