The Campbell Soup Company 鈥榟as no plans鈥� to sell genetically engineered
tomatoes, according to a letter the company sent to Jeremy Rifkin, a campaigner
against genetic engineering. Rifkin says the company feared a consumer boycott.
But David Macnair, the company鈥檚 vice-president for science and technology,
says the threatened boycott had no effect; Campbell Soup never had any plans
to market the tomatoes itself, but will profit from licence fees if another
company successfully brings the tomato to market.
Campbell Soup and Calgene, a company in Davis, California, jointly developed
tomatoes that have been genetically altered to slow the natural breakdown
of cells, keeping them fresh longer. Calgene bought a licence from Campbell
that allows it to sell the tomatoes as fresh produce in the US.
Rifkin is organising a boycott of the Flavr Savr tomato among grocery
stores, food distributors and chefs at leading restaurants. He says more
than 3000 鈥榗oncerned food professionals鈥� have signed up so far.
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