London (28 November 2005) – Swedish Meats, the leading abattoir and meat group with a 65% slaughtering market share, has announced that, starting January 2006, it will accept for slaughtering animals that have been fed on GM feed.

"The view in the food retail sector is that there has been a movement towards the acceptance among the public of GM feed to livestock, " said Swedish Meats press officer Hampe Mobarg. Swedish breeders could not be expected to pay a premium for no-GM fodder from which they will derive no benefit.

Other Swedish meat producers are expected to follow suit in a move to cut costs as non-GM feed is becoming increasingly expensive. Kott och Charkforetagen, a major meat lobbying group, had already agreed to GM feed in principle but left it up to each individual producer to decide what to do.

The dairy industry is also in a process of change. Arla Foods, the Swedish-Danish dairy giant, is torn between its producers in Denmark already using GM feed and a ban against GM feed for its Swedish suppliers. While the company has not yet defined its future policy, if milk prices continue to fall it will be increasingly difficult to persuade Swedish producers to pay a premium for non-GM feed.

Source:

Swedish meat giant paves way for GM feed. AgraFood Biotech (November 14, 2005) (http://www.agra-net.com/portal/home.jsp?pagetitle=showstory&article_id=1131552040278&publd=ag023

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