Urgent action (UK): Keep our poultry GM-feed-free
- Details
However, you can still buy all your meat and dairy in UK supermarkets as GM-free-fed, if you shop carefully. See:
http://www.gmfreeze.org/page.asp?ID=454
Of course the GM industry does not like this, and it especially doesn't like that most poultry and most eggs in the UK come from non-GM feed.
The GM industry is presently scaremongering and declaring that non GM soya is running out. In fact there is enough non-GM soya produced for all of Europe's meat and dairy to be non-GM-fed.
They are also scaremongering on price. Yes, non-GM soya is more expensive, but that is because the segregation costs fall on the non-GM sector. This is obviously wrong. Also, the price differential is not that significant it might be a couple of pence for a dozen eggs in a worst case scenario. That is not too much to pay to stop the vast majority of our meat and dairy being fed on GM contaminated feed.
Note: There are important developments towards commitment to non-GM feed in continental Europe. The UK supermarkets led the European charge away from GMOs in the 1990s in response to consumer demand. But the UK - 'responsive' as ever to US influence - has since become a weak link in European GM resistance. British consumers need to remind UK supermarkets now that they do not want GMOs in their food supply.
Action: Please write to the supermarkets supporting the need to keep UK poultry fed on non-GM feed.
Sample letter follows but please personalise with your own points.
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[your mailing address and date]
We, as consumers, are hearing rumours that your company is considering ending the requirement for your poultry to be fed on non-GM feed. This is unacceptable. You do not give us the choice to avoid GM-fed meat and dairy by labelling, and we do not want be forced into buying organic products that we cannot always afford. The existence of affordable non-GM-fed conventional meat and dairy lines are important to us, and we do not want to see them vanish from the UK. On the European continent, livestock raised for meat and dairy products are still fed on non-GM feed, and the products are labelled as such. Why should we be discriminated against?
We request your assurance that your poultry lines will remain non-GM-fed. We would also like to know which of your other lines are non-GM fed (apart from organic lines). We know that some UK supermarkets have pledged not to move to GM-fed chicken, and to maintain other non-GM-fed lines. If we cannot get substantial assurances from your company, we will take our custom elsewhere.
Sincerely [signed]
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List of email addresses of UK retailers with hotlinks for ease of writing to them:
http://www.gmfreeze.org/page.asp?id=269&iType=1088
The same list but without hotlinks is as follows:
Aldi
www.aldi.co.uk
customer services
no email, telephone 0844 406 8800
Asda
www.asda.co.uk
customer services
email from your.asda.com/section-contact-asda
or telephone 0844 481 5000
Budgens
www.budgens.co.uk
customer services
email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
or telephone 0800 298 0758
CWS (The Cooperative Food)
www.co-operative.coop/food
customer services
email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
or telephone 0800 0686 727
Iceland
www.iceland.co.uk
customer services
email from www.iceland.co.uk/feedback
or telephone 01244 842842
Lidl
www.lidl.co.uk
customer services
email from
www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages/c.service.c.Customer_Services.form.index
or telephone 0870 444 1234
Marks and Spencer
www.marks-and-spencer.co.uk
customer services
email from
www.marksandspencer.com/gp/contact/actions/subject-form-actions.html/277-247
8503-0468004?ie=UTF8&mnSBrand=core
or telephone 0845 609 0200
Morrisons
www.morrisons.co.uk
customer services
no email,
telephone 0845 611 6111
Netto
www.netto.co.uk
customer services
no email,
telephone 0845 6000200
Sainsbury
www.sainsbury.co.uk
customer services
email from www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/contact_us/contact_us.jsp#
or telephone 0800 636 262
Somerfield (now part of the Coop)
www.somerfield.co.uk
customer services
email from www.somerfield.co.uk/contactus
or telephone 0117 935 6669
Tesco
www.tesco.co.uk
customer services
email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
telephone 0800 505 555 (or 0845 7225533 for groceries dept)
Waitrose
www.waitrose.com
customer services
email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
or telephone 0800 188 884