Chefs protest against genetic engineering
By Angela Jameson and Emma Gunner
Leading chefs and restaurateurs have thrown their weight behind a campaign highlighting the latest potential threat to food safety - genetically engineered food.
Nine chefs from leading London restaurants last week attended the launch of a Greenpeace poster campaign which aims to alert the public to the possible use of genetically modified ingredients in food products sold in the UK.
The chefs, including Sally Clarke of Clarke's, Richard Corrigan of Searcy's Brasserie and Rose Gray of the River Café, claimed that last week's arrival of genetically engineered soya beans in Europe was potentially as great a threat to the catering industry and the public as BSE.
The arrival of the beans from the USA follows a recent European Commission agreement under which products containing a proportion of genetically engineered soya beans no longer have to be specifically labelled. The chefs are furious because they say this denies them the knowledge of what exactly they are buying and putting in their food.
"We have had BSE and other food scares but genetically engineered food is, for me, the last straw," said Nico Ladenis of Chez Nico, calling for more support from the hospitality industry on the issue.
Rowley Leigh, head chef at the 120-seat Kensington Place restaurant in London, said: "It was the demand for cheaper food which gave us BSE and which is now giving us genetically engineered soya. This is just the tip of the iceberg. We have no idea of the implications of eating it."
The chefs are calling for suppliers to identify the presence of genetically engineered food in their products.
Nellie Nichols, food development manager at Pràt à Manger, told Caterer the issue was important to customers. "We are actively involved in ensuring that only unmodified soya is used in our bread," she said. "We expect guarantees from our suppliers so that, when customers ask us questions, we can give answers."
The Consumers' Association has warned that genetically engineered soya is just the first in what is likely to be a long line of genetically modified foods heading for the UK.
