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A company responsible for providing
catering services for the
biotechnology company Monsanto has Internet links:
banned some genetically-modified Friends of the Earth
ingredients.
Monsanto UK

The BBC is not responsible for


The company, the content of external
internet sites
Sutcliffe Catering, We have taken the
is owned by decision to remove,
Links to other
Granada Food as far as is
practicable, GM soya Sci/Tech stories are
Services and is at the foot of the
responsible for and maize from all
food products page.
catering at some of
Monsanto's UK served in our
premises. restaurant

Environmental Mike Batchelor


campaigners said Granada quality
the measure systems director
showed Monsanto's
caterers had no confidence in the
company's GM products.

Friends of the Earth spokesman


Adrian Bebb said: "The public has
made its concerns about GM
ingredients very clear.

"Now it appears that even Monsanto's


own catering firm has no confidence
in this new technology."

Friends of the Earth has obtained a


statement made by Granada's quality
systems director, Mike Batchelor, and
dated 15 September 1999.

It says: "In response to concern


raised by our customers over the use
of GMFs [genetically-modified foods],
and to comply with government
legislation, we have taken the
decision to remove, as far as is
practicable, GM soya and maize from
all food products served in our
restaurant".

"We will continue to work with our


suppliers to replace GM soya and
maize with non-GM ingredients
without impairing quality or
performance.
"To maintain customer choice we will
sell retail products, such as
confectionery, that are packaged and
labelled by the manufacturer as
containing GM soya and maize, where
it is appropriate.

"We have taken the above steps to


ensure that you, the customer, can
feel confident in the food we serve."

Belief in choice

Monsanto's spokesman, Tony


Coombes, said that Sutcliffe Catering
ran the canteens at the company's
High Wycombe headquarters.

"We believe in
choice. At our
Cambridge
restaurant there is
a notice which
says that some
products may
contain GM
ingredients,
because our staff
are happy to eat Protest reached the
products sprayed gates of Downing
with fewer Street
chemicals."

Friends of the Earth called the news


"a tremendous victory for consumers".

A survey by the group last May found


that 24 out of 30 leading food
manufacturers operating in the UK
said they had removed GM
ingredients and derivatives, or were
doing so.

Unhappy legislators

Caterers at the House of Commons


serve food that avoids GM ingredients
"in response to the general unease
about such foods expressed by
significant numbers of our
customers".

At the Welsh and Scottish


Assemblies, caterers also have a
policy of avoiding GM ingredients, and
the European Parliament has banned
them too.

Friends of the Earth say that by the


end of the year all the UK's leading
supermarkets will have removed GM
ingredients from their own label food,
and are phasing out GM derivatives
as well. Many restaurant chains are
following suit

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