New Zealand poultry processing giant Tegel has announced that it will respond to consumer preference and stop feeding its chickens with genetically modified soya feed.

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Peter Lucas, managing director of the company, told the New Zealand Herald yesterday he was surprised when independent research commissioned by Tegel proved that 75% of consumers wanted to buy chickens raised on GM-free soymeal. The anti-GM sentiment “was stronger than I expected”, he said.


Tegel, which produces 44 million fresh and frozen chickens every year, will give GM-free feed to chickens from October, with a view to providing chickens which have not been fed GM soymeal to retailers in time for Christmas.


Luca said that it may take a little longer to ensure the company’s frozen stock is entirely GM-free, but stressed that the coating on the company’s chicken nuggets was already GM-free.


The Australia/New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) has agreed that food containing 1% or more GM ingredients must be labelled as such by December.

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