60 cows invade Sainsbury's London HQ

Last edited 17 May 2004 at 8:00am
17 May, 2004

'Jamie Oliver' took a herd of cows to Sainsbury's London HQ this morning and told the supermarket giant - "GM milk ain't pukka."

The Greenpeace pantomime cows invaded the building while the Jamie lookalike dumped a thousand pints of Sainsbury's own-brand milk onto the pavement outside the HQ. The supermarket chain produces milk from cows fed on GM. The policy results in thousands of tonnes of GM feed being imported into Britain each year.

See images from the action

Greenpeace campaigners are now walking around the Holborn offices passing out DVDs to the company's senior management. The video includes messages from Sainsbury's customers demanding that the company stops supporting the GM industry by producing milk from cows fed on a diet of American GM.

Sarah North, a GM campaigner at Greenpeace, said: "Sainsbury's has ignored its customers, but it won't be able to ignore 'Jamie Oliver', a herd of cows and half a tonne of GM milk on its doorstep. The company says it leads the pack in producing quality foods, but it still supports the GM industry. Every year it sells millions of pints of own-brand milk that comes from cows fed on GM. Huge shipments of GM are coming into the country every month because retailers like Sainsbury's refuse to go completely GM-free."

The dumped milk was given to Greenpeace by Sainsbury's customers angry at the company's policy. On May 8th Greenpeace conducted milk exchanges outside 20 Sainsbury's stores where customers were given the chance to exchange GM milk for the organic alternative free of charge. Cities across the country have seen the Greenpeace herd protesting outside Sainsbury's under the banner: 'THERE'S SOMETHING SCARY IN THE DAIRY.'

A new report released last week showed that milk producers could go GM-free at no cost to consumers or dairy farmers. The added cost of less than 1p per litre could be easily absorbed by retailers, whose huge mark-ups on dairy lines could comfortably accommodate the switch. Marks & Spencer has already ensured its milk is sourced from cows fed on a non-GM diet.

Sarah North added: "Growing GM threatens the environment with irreversible contamination. Sainsbury's shouldn't be supporting this business. We're telling their staff that the company could go GM-free cheaply and easily. We'll stay in their HQ for as long as we can or until they agree to a meeting with us so we can explain why GM is bad news for the countryside, for customers and for their company."

Further information:
Please contact the Grenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255 for images and footage

New Greenpeace report: GM and Dairy Cow Feed

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