French supermarket chain Carrefour bans GM
The Daily Mail
6th Febrary 1999
THE French food company which established Britain’s first hypermarkets removed all GM food from its shelves last night. Carrefour’s customers had expressed concern about the products despite a major advertising and information campaign by the market leader, Monsanto.
The Carrefour group has more than 200 stores in France and opened a huge branch outside Caerphlliy, in South Wales, in the early 1970s. With an annual turnover of more than £lObilllon it is one of Europe’s leading retailers.
A spokesman said: ‘Experts worldwide are divided on the risks posed by the spread and release of GM foods for both consumer health and the environment. Many questions are still unanswered. ‘For the first time, man is crossing barriers between species. It seems impossible to us, at the present level of knowledge, to be able to measure the long-term consequences. The lack of transparency which surrounds GM foods is contrary to our policy of traceability.’
It will be a major operation for Carrefour, as 516 out of its 1,800 own-label products have, until now, contained genetically-engineered ingredients in some form.