Poultry giants quail at gene food protests

AUSTRALIA - A consumer backlash against genetically engineered food has prompted the three largest poultry companies, which produce 80 per cent of chicken sold in Australia, to stop using GE feed.

Inghams, Bartter Steggles and Baiada are expected to announce today that they will phase out the use of imported genetically engineered soy. The decision has been described by Greenpeace as "a major win for consumer power", and follows thousands of phone calls, faxes and letters to the poultry companies.

A Greenpeace campaigner, John Hepburn, said the importation of 300,000 tonnes of genetically engineered soy by poultry companies was "the biggest single source of GE contamination of the Australian food chain".

"The poultry industry is to be congratulated for responding to public concerns," he said.

Under the Food Code, poultry fed with genetically engineered soy does not have to be labelled as such.

Source: smh.com.au
calendar icon 11 February 2005
clock icon 1 minute read
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