Superquinn is to import non-genetically modified soya meal to ensure its fresh chickens are on a GM-free diet.
The company says the move is in response to consumer concerns about what the farm animals are being fed. Superquinn says it has taken a year to secure a non-GM food supply from northern Brazil.
A systematic testing programme has been put in place by Superquinn to ensure the chickens' diet is free of GM ingredients. The first chickens to be reared in this way by the Carton Group in Co Monaghan are being sold in Superquinn shops this week. Superquinn says customers will not pay more for non-GM fed chicken.
There is no scientific justification for concerns that eating GM feed will mean the chicken's meat would become genetically modified, said Ms Paula Mee, Superquinn's food and nutrition adviser. Nevertheless, some consumers were concerned about the effect of GM crops on the environment.
"Customers are constantly looking for reassurance about fresh meat. We work with our suppliers towards developing systems that enable us to have full traceability and control over the fresh food that we sell," she said. Pure non-GM soya meal will be shipped to Dublin from Brazil in a separate cargo hold every six weeks. It will then be transported directly to storage facilities and then to the Carton Group milling plant, which has specialised facilities to ensure no mixing with GM ingredients occurs.
The feed, which is fully traceable, will then be dispatched to Superquinn-contracted chicken farms. IdentiGEN, a DNA testing company based in Trinity College Dublin, has devised a testing protocol for the chicken feed.
The sampling and testing programme has been designed to verify the feed has no GM ingredients. The tests search for genes which have been engineered into the crop. Samples of the non-GM soya are collected at the port. DNA tests are also carried out on the final feed product.
Last year, IdentiGEN, in conjunction with Superquinn, developed a DNA traceability sys tem for cattle called Traceback, which traces fresh meat back to its animal of origin. Animals are entered into IdentiGEN's cattle DNA database. Samples of Superquinn meat are subsequently tested to verify the meat has come only from these cattle.