One of the State's largest supermarket chains, Tesco Ireland, is to write to its vegetable-growers to ask them to plan their crop rotation so as to avoid any field that has been used in trials of genetically modified crops. The company said it had taken the decision following customer queries about how suppliers and growers managed plots used for GM trials in their crop rotation.
Growers will be asked to avoid such fields when planning rotations for vegetable and salad field crops.
Tesco's technical and Irish trade development manager, Mr Bill Paterson, said he considered the request "a common-sense approach to take while the scientific evidence is being evaluated. Our customers have asked us to take what steps we can to assure them that our products are GM-free".
Last April Tesco announced that GM ingredients should not be used in its food products "wherever it is possible to do so". The supermarket said it would "remove GM ingredients where we can and label where we can't".
A survey of Tesco customers last year found that a quarter of customers wanted GM foods removed from shelves. Mr Paterson has said previously that his supermarket's customers see no new benefits in genetically modified foods.
Dr Ruth McGrath, a microbiologist, speaking on behalf of Genetic Concern, welcomed the Tesco initiative as "a significant move".
"It's a very wise precaution. There's been very little research measuring what happens in soil where genetically modified foods have been planted. This also brings home the broader questions about GM foods, like what the implications are going to be for farmers. "If other supermarkets follow Tesco, not only will farmers not be able to sell GM crops, they will also have difficulty selling any crops subsequently planted in that soil".
The Consumers' Association of Ireland was more guarded about the Tesco decision. A spokeswoman praised the fact that supermarkets were taking the initiative to investigate their suppliers. Any measure that provided consumers with a source of GM-free food was welcome, she said.
However, she said it was debatable whether Tesco's initiative would be useful, as there were very few Irish GM trial sites, and the chances of vegetables being planted in former trial sites here was "very slim".
Consumers were also worried about food grown in the same locality as test sites and whether genetically modified organisms could be transferred to crops outside the field where they were planted.
The spokeswoman said that while Tesco was to be commended for its efforts to reduce the level of genetically modified ingredients in its own brand products, it could not guarantee whether other products on its shelves contained GM ingredients as there was no independent testing of such products.
She said processed foods were a more problematic area than vegetables and called on supermarkets to press for clear labelling.
