The staff cafeteria at biotech-crop Monsanto’s UK headquarters reportedly banned GM foods from the menu back in 1999.
The private catering company running the canteen, Sutcliffe Catering, owned by Granada Food Services, told its clients, including Monsanto, that it would no longer use foods containing GM soya or maize because of “customer concerns” about the technology.
“We have taken the steps to ensure that you, the customer, can feel confident in the food we serve,” Granada told its customers.
Tony Combes, Monsanto's director of corporate affairs, said the caterer’s decision was no reflection on Monsanto, but was rather a “blanket ban” covering all of its customers. He maintained that Monsanto staff members happily ate GM foods.
"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 products sprayed with fewer chemicals," Combes said in 1999.
Reports of these 1999 events have recently resurfaced in the media. In response, Monsanto’s head of external affairs at the UK headquarters said that the information is untrue.
“[The] Monsanto UK office does not even have a catering service. Our former staff restaurant was closed in 2003 when we sold our wheat breeding business, but even prior to that we displayed a sign that the policy was NOT to exclude food from GM sources,” he said.
Free Market News Network August 8, 2007
Green Fertility August 2, 2007
Mindfully.org December 1999
BBC News December 22, 1999
