Is Walkers Sunseed Oil a GM product?
I noticed that Walkers crisps are now cooked in Sunseed Oil which is a trade marked name. Does this mean that the 'special' sunflower oil is from genetically modified plants?
richardland Sat 08/07/06 21:10
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Well done, Prof. Hope students aren't suffering from a lack of attention!
I had a look through the US Patents Office websites and got thoroughly bogged down. But I did come up with a patent for a new sunflower. Details, there were none, so I looked on the Deutche European patents site and found a full description. I wonder if this may be it, but there's nary a mention of the word 'sunseed'.
There's no doubt about the name being applied to a sunflower, as shown here
Another route might be the EU plant registration list - I'll have a go at that tomorrow - wish me luck!!
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Question Author
I have been trying to get answers from Walkers myself from their customer services department. I asked the question whether their SunSeed TM oil was derived from a GMO.
Their reply was to say thay they do not use GM ingredients. Is this skirting the issue in the context of a previous answer where it was said that most, if not all, the genetic material has been removed from the oil during the refining process, therefore the 'ingredient' is not genetically modified.
I asked the question again simply asking for a yes/no answer to the above question. They reply in a very similar vain - They do not use GM ingredients.
What are your thoughts on this?
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Alas, I haven't found a way into EU trademark or 'permitted crop' listings without having to go through 'pay per query' sites.
But I note from the European Patent page in the previous link that the patent is for a sunflower hybrid based on parent lines of the Pervenets variety. This latter was subject to mutagenesis. See here The questions arising are, (1) Is the patent for the 'Sunseed' sunflower, with its oil being used by Walkers, and, (2) was the Pervenets mutagenesis a GM process?
Richardland, I sympathise with you over your answers from Walkers. It's like politicians who say 'We have no plans to...'. when what they mean is that they are going full steam ahead, but their plans aren't yet finalised.
Weasels.
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New user to this fantastic site.
I did some work on trademarks recently for a client. My understanding was that anyone can put TM after a name or tagline, it just shows that it is being used in a trademark capacity. When the R is put there instead shows that the name or item is registered. This may be why nothing was showing up on the searches you did to begin with.
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Question Author
Having tried several times to get a straight answer I have received an email from Walker with the following content
'We can confirm that Sunseed Oil is not produced from Genetically Modified Organisms or ingredients.'
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Back to square one with Walkers reply. If the genes and DNA are stripped from something, does it become a non-GM ingredient?
Welcome, 2complicated! As you'll have seen, for TM the Patents Office showed it was 'applied for' last October. Objections have only a three month time limit, but I can't find anything more recent that says 'approved'...or not.
(I assume Prof's presently having a well-deserved rest, lying on a beach somewhere).
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Apologies for the late reply. I've been up to my head in work over the last few weeks. Haven't been on holiday, honest - see Elements salts question by Birt.
Removal of genetic material from a GM crop would technically result in a non-gm product. Whether this would be permissable within the bounds of current food legislation is a different matter. I very much doubt it.
I'll look into it again. I've also come to a dead end for now in researching this variety further - certain information seems to be protected.
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Right, it's time to read between the lines.
I've discovered further details of this patent in a secure archived source. The key information I've been searching for has been "removed" from the patent details.
The reason for removal of this information is open to speculation. However, if one considers what should be the primary reason, there is a possibility that you could be correct.
However, I still cannot confirm that the searched sources to date have said that Sunseed oil is GM in origin - it may be of non GM origin. Nevertheless, there is clearly scope here for further investigation.
It's a busy week this week, but I'm still on the case.
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