"Shoppers have been fooled into thinking the major retailers have turned their backs on GM, but in reality much of what they buy has been fed on GM animal feed. Thankfully some retailers are cleaning up their act, but for people who shop at the poor performers, like Tesco, the Shopper's Guide shows which products to avoid."

Tesco customers may want to take up this issue:

Tony Palmer
Consumer, Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Manager
Tesco Stores
PO Box 44
Cirrus Building C
Shire Park
Welwyn Garden City
Hertfordshire
AL7 1ZR

Telephone: direct line is 01707 297 215,
main switchboard is 01992 632 222
email is [email protected]
---
SHOPPER'S GUIDE SHOWS TESCO, ICELAND, MORRISONS BOTTOM OF LEAGUE AS GM SLIPS ON TO SHELVES

 The new Shopper's Guide, which has been completely updated over the past month, can be found at
www.greenpeace.org.uk/Products/GM/index.cfm

SHOPPER'S GUIDE SHOWS TESCO, ICELAND, MORRISONS BOTTOM OF LEAGUE AS GM SLIPS ON TO SHELVES

A new consumer guide to genetically modified food shows how the controversial technology is slipping onto our supermarket shelves. The updated Greenpeace Shopper's Guide lists scores of products that come from animals fed on GM food, and details how some major retailers are failing to tackle the issue.
 
A totally original league table of the top ten British supermarkets shows Tesco, Morrisons and Iceland at the bottom. The stores can't guarantee that many of their own brand products are not from animals fed on GM and appear to have done little to remove GM-fed animal products from their shops.
 
At the top of the list sits Marks & Spencer, whose fresh meat and eggs are sourced through supply chains which use non-GM feeds. None of the ten can guarantee its own brand milk comes from cows fed on a GM-free diet, but M&S is working towards eliminating GM feed from all its dairy products.
 
The Shopper's Guide asked each of the top ten food retailers to outline its policy on the use of GM-feed for its own brand animal products. The retailers were marked for their commitment to supply own brand non-GM fed beef, pork, chicken, lamb, fish, eggs and dairy. M&S were able to guarantee that all but its dairy was derived from animals fed on non-GM. Tesco, however, could not guarantee its beef, pork, lamb and dairy are not fed on GM. In addition Tesco and other retailers continue to stock other brands that use GM-fed animal products while seeming to make little effort to end the practice.
 
All major British supermarkets pledged to keep GM foods off their shelves after a consumer backlash. But millions of pounds worth of products from animals fed on GM are still sold every day in the UK. Each year hundreds of thousands of tonnes of GM animal feed is shipped to Britain from America.
 
As well as the league table, the new on-line Shopper's Guide carries a representative sample of the lines stocked by each of the top ten retailers - own brand and otherwise. It lists products in three categories - red, amber and green. The red list contains products that are derived from animals fed on GM, or those that the manufacturer cannot confirm are not. The amber list contains products that the manufacturers say will soon no longer use GM-fed animal ingredients. The green list shows products that the manufacturers have confirmed do not come from animals fed on GM.

Products on the red list include Dairy Crest milk, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Oxo cubes and Mr Kipling cakes. On the green list are Weetabix, Anchor Butter and Waitrose Wild Boar Sausages.
 
Nathan Argent of Greenpeace said: "Shoppers have been fooled into thinking the major retailers have turned their backs on GM, but in reality much of what they buy has been fed on GM animal feed. Thankfully some retailers are cleaning up their act, but for people who shop at the poor performers, like Tesco, the Shopper's Guide shows which products to avoid.

GM animal feed has already contaminated other crops in North America. If Tony Blair lets US companies sell their seeds here, maize for animal feed is likely to be the first crop to be grown on a large scale, threatening our environment."
 
The new Shopper's Guide, which has been completely updated over the past month, can be found at
www.greenpeace.org.uk/Products/GM/index.cfm

For more information contact Greenpeace on 0207 865 8283 / 07801 212967

Notes: The original Shopper's Guide was launched in 2000. The new version has been completely updated and includes the league table on own brand animal products.

Retailers were asked if they could guarantee that their own brand animal products did not come from animals fed on a GM diet. The responses were as follows:

 
               Beef  Pork  Chicken  Lamb  Eggs  Fish  Dairy
 
Marks and Spencer     Yes Yes Yes     Yes     Yes     Only salmon     No
Co-Op             No  Yes Yes     50%     Yes     Only salmon & trout No
Safeway               30% 50% 95%     No      90%     Yes         No
Sainsbury         No  15% Yes     No      Yes     No          No
Waitrose          No  5%  Yes     NZ lamb     Black Tail  Yes         No
Asda              No  No  Yes     No      Yes     Yes         No
Somerfield            No  No  Yes     No      Yes     Yes         No
Tesco             No  No  Yes     No      Yes     Yes (ex.Tilapia)
 No
Iceland               No  No  Yes     No      Yes     No          No
Morrisons         No  No  No      No      No      No          No

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