Foodland will ban genetically modified (GM) ingredients in its home brand range of products. Foodland SA CEO, Russell Markham, said consumers had overwhelmingly indicated they did not want GM ingredients in any of the chain's 160 Foodland-branded products.

"This will require changes to the existing labelling laws, which are inadequate, especially for goods made from overseas sourced ingredients," Markham stated. According to Markham, the labelling issue is particularly important given moves by some State Governments to lift bans on the commercial growing of GM foods. Markham added that if governments were prepared to allow GM foods to be grown commercially, they must give the consumer the right to decide whether or not to consume them. "Foodland believes it is important that branded and fresh products made from GM foods are clearly labelled to enable a choice to be made."

However, Professor Mark Tester from the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, said the move seemed a weak attempt at cheap populism. Any claim of offering GM-free products was "untenable" as: "Any processed food that includes ingredients that are not purely Australian could contain GM." Only slightly more than half of Foodland's private label products are manufactured in South Australia.