Grampian feed goes GM-free
5 February 2001
Grampian feed goes GM-free
By FWi staff
GRAMPIAN Country Food Group has announced that it is to begin manufacturing all pig and poultry feed with non-GM soya by June.
The giant company, which rears and processes stock, is making the switch following requests from several retail customers.
Tesco, Asda and Marks & Spencer are widening their ranges of beef, lamb and chicken reared on non-GM feed.
Grampian says it can guarantee non-GM soya through a rigorous quality assurance scheme and stringent tests on shipments.
Feed division managing director Alban Denton said: “Consumers will have the confidence that the livestock fed by Grampian will consume a non-GM diet.”
“We have been in negotiations with our supply base for some time to source the volume of non-GM soya we require for our five feed mills.”
Where feed is sourced from third-party supplies, Grampian says it will co-operate closely with farmers and compounders to ensure they meet standards.
A Grampian spokesman said he could not reveal where the soya would be sourced as this was “commercially sensitive” information.
Grampian produces 3.8 million chickens and 24,500 pigs a week. Its feed milling division produces 20,000 tonnes of pig and poultry feed a week.
In 1999, Grampian was the first major producer to stop using antibiotic growth promoters in chicken rations.
- GM-free feed will cost farmers, FWi, 26 January, 2001
- Supermarkets begin moves to GM-free rations, FWi, 07 January, 2000
- First drug-free chickens go on sale, FWi, 02 September, 1999