MOST MEAT IS TAINTED BY GM
UK animals routinely given modified feed, shoppers told
MOST meat sold in restaurants and supermarkets is from animals raised on GM feed, families were warned yesterday. A farming conference heard shoppers would struggle to avoid produce from livestock fed genetically-modified crops.
Delegates were told maize and soya beans – key cattle feeds – were now 80 per cent GM.
‘We find it convenient not to make a big noise about it,’ said David Hughes, professor of food marketing at Imperial College London.
Connor McVeigh of McDonald’s told the conference that the fast food chain sold beef from cows raised on GM crops.
He said families did not want GM ingredients but it was ‘becoming increasingly difficult to source non-GM feed within our supply chain’.
The revelation exposes the extent to which GM produce has taken hold in the food chain – behind the backs of consumers.
The big supermarkets said customers could avoid GM exposure only if they bought organic.
Peter Melchett of the Soil Association said UK animals should be fed domestic peas and beans instead of GM crops from the United States and Brazil.
He added: ‘When you buy a steak, how do you know what the animal has been fed on? It could have been fed on Welsh grass or it could be beef fed on Brazilian soya which is GM.
‘Nobody is going to tell you. Are we too childish or infantile to be told this?’
GM crops are not widely grown in the UK, except in small batches at research centres.
Mr Melchett said families should be told explicitly that they are buying meat fed on GM crops, adding: ‘If it’s so wonderful, let people choose.’
He said there were potential risks to human health
as well as concerns over the heavy use of weedkillers in soy production in the Americas.
Owen Paterson, the former Conservative environment secretary, said in 2013 that ‘not a single’ steak sold in London restaurants was not made from cattle fed on GM feed.
Most major supermarkets quietly dropped their ban on ‘Frankenfeeds’ in 2013. The Co-op said in 2013 it had become untenable to maintain its ban as ‘the amount of GM crops grown across the globe has grown rapidly’.
Sainsbury’s states on its website: ‘We do not permit the sale of own brand food, drink, pet food, dietary supplements or floral products that contain GM material.
‘We are also aware that some customers have concerns regarding products from animals that may have been fed a diet containing GM material. As part of offering a choice to our customers, we offer a range of own brand organic products which guarantees the animals are fed a non-GM diet.’
Waitrose states on its website: ‘We fully understand that some customers would like a wider choice of produce from animals fed on a non- GM diet. With that in mind, all the animals that supply our organic meat, eggs and milk are fed a non-GM diet.’
Morrisons said: ‘Like other supermarkets, we are unable to guarantee that GM animal feed is not used in the supply chain for meat and dairy products, unless it’s organic.
‘Such a promise would add to the strain on farmers and increase the pressure on food prices, given the declining availability of guaranteed non-GM feed.’ The Food Standards Agency said there was no reason to suppose GM feed presented any more risk to farmed livestock than conventional feed.
It says: ‘Food from animals fed on authorised GM crops is considered to be as safe as food from animals fed on non-GM crops.’
But it said a review by the European Food Standards Agency had found it is ‘possible that DNA fragments derived from GM plant materials [in feed] may occasionally be detected in animal tissues’. Mr McVeigh, who is in charge of the McDonald’s supply chain in the UK, was addressing the National Farmers’ Union conference in Birmingham. A spokesman for the fast food firm said: ‘There are no GM ingredients on the McDonald’s UK menu. In line with wider industry moves, in 2013 we ended the restrictions on suppliers using only nonGM feed in our egg supply chain.
‘In 2014, we ended these same restrictions for feed in our chicken supply chain. Over 16,000 British and Irish farmers supply beef to McDonald’s UK. This high number makes it unrealistic to require those farmers to use non-GM feed.
‘They individually buy feed from a variety of mills and/or mix their own feeds on their farms.
‘The World Health Organisation states that GM animal feed has no effect on the quality or safety of meat, milk, or eggs.
‘We continue to work closely with agricultural and scientific experts, suppliers and national farm assur- ance schemes for guidance on this issue.’
The GM industry has been so successful in pushing its crops on the other side of the Atlantic that farmers in Britain and Europe now find it difficult – although not impossible – to find GM-free alternatives.
There was uproar in 2013 when leading supermarkets abandoned the pledge to ensure their farm animals supplying meat, milk and eggs would be reared on a GM-free diet.
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