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So even if a product does not state that it is GM, it may still contain GM ingredients. GM ingredients are entering the food chain in other ways. GM crops are being fed to farm animals like chickens, pigs and cows, thereby entering milk, eggs, cheese and meat. There is no requirement for foods from animals fed on GM-crops to be labeled as GM (applicable to New Zealand too). "Most people don't know that despite massive public rejection of GM, it is still being sneaked into our food by dumping it into the feed of animals like turkeys," said Greenpeace GM campaigner Emma Gibson. An NOP poll conducted for Greenpeace in September found that 67 percent of those polled were opposed to farm animals being fed GM crops. Ninety percent believed that food derived from animals fed on GM should be labeled as such. "This continues despite concerns about effects on the environment of growing these crops and lack of knowledge about the long term effects on animal and public health," said Gibson. "The good news is that more and more producers are going GM free in animal feed and there are plenty of places that you can buy GM free turkeys this Christmas." Leading supermarkets offering own brand turkeys that are GM free include Iceland and Co-op, while Marks and Spencer offer free range turkeys that are GM free. Other GM free brands include Kelly Bronze and all organic turkeys. Brands well known to UK consumers that were found to be feeding GM crops to their turkeys include Bernard Matthews, Buxted, Butterball, Brandons and Twydale. Supermarkets whose own brand turkeys were found to be fed on GM include Somerfield and Safeway. SDA, Tesco and Sainsbury are still feeding GM crops to their turkeys but told Greenpeace that they will stop the practice as soon as possible. The simplest way to guarantee food is GM free is to buy organic. This also ensures the food is produced without artificial pesticides and fertilizers, and that animals are allowed to roam freely and reared without the routineuse of antibiotics, growth promoters or other drugs. Other groups are campaigning against mass production of turkeys for different reasons. The UK's Animal Defenders, part of the National Anti-Vivisection Society, secretly filmed inside five turkey slaughterhouses and an intensive turkey farm, during November and December this year. Posing as a "plucker" or "hanger," an Animal Defender field officer documented tens of thousands of birds crammed inside dark, windowless sheds, birds having their throats cut from the inside, through the mouth and birds struggling as they hang upside down waiting to be killed. "Many people who enjoy what is regarded as the traditional Christmas dinner will be horrified to learn of the suffering that brought it to their dinner plate," said Fiona Ogg of Animal Defenders. "At a time when we should be celebrating compassion and calling for peace on earth, the traditional Christmas dinner has become a tragic celebration of gluttony and animal suffering. These birds have been bred to be overweight and are killed at just a few weeks old."
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