Just hours after Tesco, the UK's largest supermarket chain, announced it could no longer uphold its commitment to ensure feed given to its poultry is free of genetically modified material, the Cooperative Food reneged on its policy of ensuring eggs and poultry meat sold in its stores come from birds fed a GM-free diet.

A spokesperson for The Co-operative Group elaborated, "The amount of GM crops grown across the globe has increased rapidly year on year and, because of the volumes involved and difficulties in segregating soya supply, it is becoming increasingly difficult to secure a continuous and guaranteed supply of non-GM soya for animal feed."

The spokesperson told Farming Online that maintaining a GM-free position is "becoming increasingly untenable," and added, "Our own-brand chicken and turkey supplier has informed us that they are no longer able to guarantee that the animal feed they are using is non-GM, so we are no longer able to guarantee that our own-brand chicken and turkey has been fed a non-GM diet."

Friday's announcements by the Cooperative and Tesco are the latest by the UK's major retailers. The two supermarkets follow Asda and Morrisons in withdrawing their ethical commitments to GM-free feed.

These shifts in stance, made with some degree of synchronicity, come following a major lobbying campaign launched by industry groups including the British Egg Industry Council, British Poultry Council and NFU. In February, the industry organisations stepped up their campaign, inciting supermarkets to discard their commitments to GM-free feed, which were put in place in response to consumer concern over GM.

As eggs produced by hens fed on GM soy would not have to be labelled, critics of the move have claimed that the supermarkets are going against the public interest and moving away from transparency, which they argue is unwise and unethical given the recent scandal surrounding processed meat, in which both Tesco and the Cooperative were implicated.

On Friday morning, Soil Association Policy Director Peter Melchett said, "As the horsemeat scandal continues, the last thing the British public want is another hidden secret ingredient in the meat, milk and egg supply chain." 

Although the Cooperative spokesperson claimed difficulties in sourcing non-GM feed have "been exacerbated by delays in the transportation of certified non-GM soya from Brazil," Melchett countered that the Cooperative group had "swallowed the line being pedalled by" corporate interests. He elaborated, "There is plenty of non-GM animal feed available, and the amount of non-GM feed imported into Europe is increasing.  In Brazil alone, there is enough non-GM animal feed to supply the whole of Europe.

"The quantity of non-GM imported feed into Europe is going up year on year, because supermarkets in countries like France and Germany are avoiding GM feed as their customers want." In France, supermarket chain Carrefour has introduced 'GM-free' labelling on its eggs.

In January, The Food Standards Agency published the results of a study which revealed UK consumers are still sceptical of GM and that 70 percent want labelling laws expanded to cover milk, dairy and egg products from animals fed on GM material.