Tesco avoids food grown on GM test plots

   UK: January 7, 2000

   OXFORD - Leading British supermarket Tesco Plc is asking farmers not
   to supply it with food from land used to test genetically modified
   (GM) crops, a spokesman said. 

   "Our customers are still very wary," he told Reuters by telephone from
   the company's headquarters yesterday.

   The firm was writing to farmers requesting that they withold supplies
   of any produce from land that had been used in GM tests, he added.

   Tesco announced last April that it would remove GM material from food
   on its shelves. The process was nearly complete.

   "We've been going through it thoroughly," the spokesman said.

   Britain is running farm trials of GM crops to assess their potential
   impact on the environment. Approval of GM crops for wider use has been
   delayed until tests have been completed.

   REUTERS NEWS SERVICE