Marks & Spencer has come under fire for abandoning its policy of selling only GM-free food.
The store is selling six products containing genetically-modified soya or corn despite having long presented itself as being opposed to such engineered products.
The six are teriyaki, ginger and hibachi sauces from the American TonTon brand, and three flavours of Moravian Cookie – sugar, chocolate, and cranberry and orange.
Other stores are also selling an increasing number of imported American foods from brands including Reese, Hershey and Oreo that contain GM ingredients.
Last year, M&S, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and the Co-op abandoned pledges to ensure animals supplying milk, eggs, chicken, pork and beef were not fed a GM diet.
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M&S and Tesco have a policy not to use GM ingredients in their own-label products, but it is now clear there are no such assurances for other brands. The TonTon sauce is the first GM food allowed on to M&S shelves, while Tesco has gradually started to sell these products.
M&S said: “This is a very small number of products. They are clearly not M&S-branded products and are clearly labelled. This in no way affects our commitment to only using non-GM food ingredients in M&S food.”
A Tesco spokesman said: “Our American range is very popular. All products are clearly labelled in line with relevant legislation.”
Read full original article: Frankenstein Food Slips into M&S
