Stealth GM products 'widely sold'

Genetically modified maize is commonly used in animal feed

Consumers are unknowingly eating foods produced from genetically modified (GM) crops, the Soil Association has said.

It says supermarkets are stocking dairy and pork products sourced from animals fed GM soya and maize despite banning them from own-label products.

It wants the government and European Commission to bring in labelling for foods produced from GM-fed animals.

But the British Retail Consortium says there is no evidence GM material can transfer from food stuffs.

Soil Association director Patrick Holden said: "The really disturbing element of this is that it's GM by stealth, coming through the back door, fed through livestock, unbeknown to most of the public on a very large scale."

It is very hard to see what would be gained by labelling products in this way British Retail Consortium

Tests carried out for the Soil Association on 35 feed samples from dairy, pig and poultry farmers found 73% contained GM soya. Of the GM soya samples, 27% had a GM soya content of more than 70%.

It says the Little Red Tractor and Freedom Foods labels that give quality assurance to shoppers do not guarantee that products have not come from animals fed on GM food.

'Accidental contamination'?

"Biotechnology companies have clearly used imported animal feed as a Trojan Horse to introduce GM into the UK food chain, despite the fact that the British public have voted overwhelmingly against GM," Mr Holden said.

Only limited GM crops are sown in the UK and there are currently no commercial GM crops grown in England.

"This is not just accidental contamination, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of GM grain are being used to produce our food each year," Mr Holden said of the sale of pork and dairy products reared on GM-feed.

Fresh British chicken and turkey are all non-GM, the association said.

But a spokesman for the British Retail Consortium, said there was "no evidence that there is a transfer of GM material between food stuffs and meat or dairy products".

Retail comparison

He said: "Because of that, there is no legal obligation to label the products the customers buy with information about whether the food stuff contained GM materials.

"It is very hard to see what would be gained by labelling products in this way."

Organic food is GM-free but for non-organic, the Soil Association named Marks & Spencer as the only retailer which ensured all its non-organic milk and fresh meat came from non-GM fed animals.

However, the retailer does allow GM feed for its frozen and processed products.

Sainsbury's "farm promise" milk is also produced from animals not fed on GM.

Waitrose, the Co-op and Sainsbury's also offer a few non-organic meat and dairy items produced from non-GM feed.