More than 100 of Europe's leading food writers, including Darina Allen of Ireland, have backed a Greenpeace campaign calling for a global ban on genetically-modified food.
They added their support yesterday to environmental campaigners who want a moratorium on the release of all genetically-modified (GM) organisms into the food chain, subject to more extensive research into their potential effects.
They said they would not lend their names to any products which include GM ingredients, and would endorse restaurants which are GM-free.
British writers endorsing the campaign include Antony Worrall Thompson, restaurateur and broad caster; Fay Maschler, restaurant critic of the Evening Standard, Joanna Blythman of the Guardian and Frances Bissell, the Times cookery writer.
At the introduction of the campaign in London's Savoy Hotel, Greenpeace executive director Lord Melchett said it would be far-reaching because of the level of support it had already received from a broad range of people in the food industry who were deeply disturbed by the way gene technology was being applied to foods.
The group issued a statement saying: "As food professionals we object to the introduction of genetically engineered foods into the food chain. This is imposing a genetic experiment on the public which could have unpredictable and irreversible adverse consequences.
"We are deeply concerned that this is the wrong direction for food policy to take."
Ms Allen confirmed that the campaign would involve cookery writers, chefs and restaurateurs "promoting the use of non-genetically engineered ingredients in all our recipes, while encouraging all food writers to adopt the same approach".
She added: "We will be endorsing restaurants that are genetically-engineered free or organic, and encouraging them to advertise their GE-free/organic status to their clientele by including this information in their advertising, on menus, table cards and window displays."
The UK Minister for Science, Lord Sainsbury, responded yesterday to criticism of his links to research into GM food. In an interview with the Times, the Labour peer and chairman of the supermarket chain rejected allegations of a conflict of interest over the funding of food experiments through a private charitable trust.
Lord Sainsbury claimed that such conflict was impossible as his personal fortune - some £2 billion - was controlled by a blind trust, and he had no say over the decisions of the trust.
On genetic modification of food, he said: "I don't think headlines about Frankenstein tomatoes really contribute much. There is a serious debate to be had about biodiversity and safety and the more the debate can be kept on those issues the better it will be."
--(Additional reporting by PA)
