Greenpeace today welcomed the announcement by Iceland that from this September it will be the first UK supermarket to ban meat that has been fed on genetically modified soya from its stores.
In an unusual step Iceland has directly purchased 6,000 tonnes of non-GM soya to provide a non contaminated source for its suppliers, who were facing problems purchasing non-GM animal feed. Iceland is also offering to supply the soya to other retailers, food producers and farmers.
Greenpeace Campaign Director John Sauven said, "This is excellent news for consumers. The race is now firmly on within the food industry to get rid of the largest source of GM pollution in the UK, the 2 million tons of GM soya & maize imported each year for use as animal feed."
During a recent Greenpeace survey of UK supermarkets' policies on GM foods, food giants ALDI, Co-op, Tesco and Marks & Spencer, all indicated to Greenpeace that they aim to eliminate the use of GM crops from animal feed, so that meat and animal products such as eggs and cheese will be truly GM free.
Others such as ASDA, Safeway, Sainsbury`s and Somerfield now have to come clean about their animal feed policies.
John Sauven added, "Iceland has now led the way and shown that with a little effort this it is possible for supermarkets to be totally GM free".
Poultry is the first line of products that Iceland and other supermarkets are targeting for non-GM feed. The poultry industry uses 60% of UK soya imports. Within the poultry industry major suppliers such as Grampian Foods and Moy Park are recently reported to have gone non-GM, however the UK's largest and best known poultry company, Bernard `bootiful` Matthews, continues to claim that it is not possible to source non-GM supplies.
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