A number of UK organisations have urged retailers to disregard calls made by poultry farmers, who want supermarkets to abandon anti-GM policies.

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Last week, NFU, British Poultry Council and British Egg Industry Council, alongside other industry groups, began lobbying supermarkets to retract their policies on GM feed. Most supermarkets do not allow egg suppliers to use genetically modified feed. The industry groups argued that GM feed is less expensive, easier to obtain and pointed out that producers in other areas of animal agriculture are free to feed their animals on GM grain.

Asda and Morrison's have agreed to relax rules on the use of GM feed, though other retailers have so far stood firm.

Last week, a number of sustainable farming, environment and GM-sceptic organisations wrote to the British Retail Consortium, advising the retail body against a change in policy. Friends of the Earth, the Soil Association, GM Freeze and GeneWatch sent a joint letter to the BRC on Thursday (21st February).

As eggs produced by hens fed on GM soy would not have to be labelled, the egg industry's opponents claimed that the formers' calls go against the public interest and moves towards greater transparency, which they argue is unwise and unethical given the recent scandal surrounding processed meat.

In their joint letter, the groups explained, "We believe, particularly in the wake of the scandal about unlabelled and unlisted ingredients in beef burgers, that this would be a very serious mistake, further undermining public trust in animal products sold by British supermarkets."

The organisations argued that imports of non-GM grains into the EU are increasing as retailers in mainland Europe demand stricter regulation of feed, including commitments to using non-GM feeds, in line with consumers' desires. They also pointed out that a study by the UK Food Standards Agency last month showed consumers overwhelmingly supported labelling GM material, including in the event animals had been fed on GM grain.

GM freeze commented on Thursday, "We know that 67 percent of consumers want supermarkets to label meat and dairy products made with animals fed GM feed, according to recent Food Standards Agency research, but that hasn't happened."

Although the Westminster government and some sections of the UK industry have expressed their support for GM technology in no uncertain terms, the crops remain scientifically controversial and publicly unpopular.

Responding to Defra Secretary Owen Paterson, who declared open support for GM crops in December 2012, Soil Association policy director Peter Melchett said, "The recent British Science Association survey showed that public concern has not changed. Owen Patterson says that people are eating meat from animals fed of GM feed without realising it. That is because the British Government has consistently opposed moves to label to give consumers accurate information, and he should put that right by immediately introducing compulsory labelling of meat and milk from animals fed on GM feed."