Poultry producers back down on GE feed

AUSTRALIA - Three top poultry producers have caved in to consumer demand and will stop feeding genetically engineered soy protein to their chickens. Poultry producers Inghams, Steggles and Baiada, which produce 80 per cent of the country's poultry, will now source chicken feed, which is not genetically modified, from countries like Brazil.

Greg Hargreave from Baiada Poultry says the decision to phase out GE soy was a direct result of consumer pressure.

"It’s a matter of where you see trends and it's a part of the market, I suppose, where people with those sorts of concerns, if we can try and address those concerns, it's a win-win situation," he said.

Greenpeace anti-GE campaigner John Hepburn says Australia's poultry industry uses about 50 to 60 per cent of the 300,000 tonnes of genetically engineered soy imported into Australia each year.

He says Australian consumers have clearly demonstrated they do not want their food contaminated with soy.

"There was a public survey done a little while ago by Biotechnology Australia that said that two thirds of Australians felt that if an animal product is from an animal-fed GE feed, then that product is a product genetically engineering, it's a GE food," he said.

11 February 2005