(OTTAWA) Members of the Council of Canadians and Sierra Youth Coalition are today beginning four days of nationwide actions aimed at convincing Loblaws/Superstores and other grocery outlets to put the safety of consumers first and remove genetically engineered foods from their shelves.

Activists will be leafleting outside select grocery stores in cities across the country, including St. John's, Charlottetown, Fredericton, Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Windsor, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton, Salmon Arm, Richmond, and Vancouver. In Vancouver, activists will be dressing up as various kinds of Halloween frankenfoods and a giant Frankenstein on stilts will make an appearance.

"Loblaws/Superstores has an obligation to ensure the right of consumers to know what's in their food and allow consumers to buy food that is free of genetic manipulation," said Jennifer Story, Health Protection Campaigner with the Council of Canadians. "We are encouraging grocery stores across the country to rise to the challenge and ensure the food their customers buy is safe."

Over the past few years, genetically engineered foods have appeared, unlabelled and without adequate testing, on grocery shelves. The main types of genetically engineered foods are canola, corn, soya and potatoes. Together they can be found in between 60%-75% of prepackaged foods.

"Most UK grocery stores are phasing out genetically engineered foods. What remains is clearly labelled. Our members are asking Loblaws: When will Canadians be afforded the same treatment?" said Story.

Loblaws is Canada's largest grocery chain. It has outlets in every province, including Real Canadian Superstore, Real Canadian Wholesale Club, Extra Foods, Shop Easy Foods, Lucky Dollar Foods, SuperValu, ExtraFoods, Loblaws, Zehrs Markets, Zehrs Food Plus, Atlantic Superstore, Atlantic Supervalu, the Supercentre, Atlantic save Easy, Dominion, no frills, Fortinos, independent, and valu-mart. Loblaws also recently purchased the Provigo chain in Quebec.

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