Consumers Have The Right to Know if They are Eating Products from Animals Fed on a GM Diet
Following announcements from M&S, Sainsbury's, Co-Op and Tesco that they will no longer require that the farm animals in their supply chains are fed a non GM diet, Peter Melchett, Policy Director of the Soil Association tells us how the supermarket giants are misleading the customers.
Tesco and the Co-Op are misleading their customers by claiming that the GM feed will not be detectable in products like eggs, milk or chicken. This is not true. Several research studies have found that GM DNA in animal feed is taken up by the animal's organs and can then be detected in the milk, meat and fish that people eat. This has been confirmed today by the Government’s Food Standards Agency.
M&S, Co-Op and Tesco are also misleading their customers by claiming that non-GM feed isn't available. They are wrong. In Brazil alone, there is enough non-GM animal feed to supply the whole of Europe. The quantity of non-GM imported feed into Europe is going up year on year, because supermarkets in countries like France and Germany are avoiding GM feed because their customers don't want it. The British public also don't want it. A survey found that 70% of consumers don't trust supermarkets when it comes to GM and a recent FSA survey found 67% of consumers wanted meat, eggs and dairy labelled if they come from animals fed on GM feed.
Consumers should have the right to know if they are eating products from animals fed on a GM diet. Currently, British people don't have that choice. Supermarkets are choosing to hide the presence of GM animal feed and GM DNA in milk and meat by deliberately not labelling products from animals fed on a GM diet. What have UK supermarkets got to hide?
Currently in the UK, the only way to be completely sure you avoid eating chicken or eggs from chickens fed on GM animal feed is to shop at Waitrose, and to avoid all GM animal feed, buy organic wherever you can. Consumers in the rest of Europe are able to make more informed choices as supermarkets there accurately label food. The Soil Association is calling for honest and accurate labelling on all food from animals fed on GM feed in the UK.
Peter Melchett, Policy Director of the Soil Association