December 10, 2002

More on Nestle GE story in China –

‘Good Food – Good Life’ – Chinese people are just about to benefit from Nestle’s unique experience of anticipating consumers’ needs. Nestle’s aim is to flood the Chinese market with processed GE products because they anticipate that Chinese people are not happy with the fantastic array of natural foods which are used to produce mouthwatering dishes in dozens of regional cuisines.

…but Nestle didn’t anticipate this .....

An anonymous person downloaded the "red company list" from the GE Food section of Greenpeace HK website and circulated it through the internet in China under the title of "Red Warning”.

Several media followed up by calling our GE campaigner to get extra info about Nestle and the list, which was obviously supplied willingly. Shanghai Bund Pictorial Magazine published a feature long article on Nestle and GE food on 3rd December.

Sina.com, one of the largest websites in China, posted the story on their new "GE food" section and hosted a web poll on the issue to which over 5000 people responded in 2 days with only around one percent supporting Nestle. Hundreds of people also posted opinions on the bulletin board - bulletin boards are incredibly popular in Mainland China. As a result, Nestle was forced to issue a statement on Sina.com.

Two important newspapers picked up the story. According to Beijing Morning Post, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) has been receiving many calls from the public since the story broke last week inquiring whether Nestle's products contain GE ingredients. Officials from MOA said that if Nestle is using GE ingredients but did not apply for labelling, it would have "to face punishment" (!)

So, it all started with an anonymous e-mail circulating Greenpeace info and the story snowballed in a ping-pong between old and new media.

Other media to pick up on the story are Guangzhou Evening Post with a half page report on the front page of their Business News section. Also, Beijing Morning Post, one of the most important newspapers in Beijing, ran the story front page. The largest official paper in China and therefore the most influential, People’s Daily, also ran the story, here it is in its English edition.

...and here's the Greenpeace pr

Not only does Nestle want to contaminate China’s fantastic natural food resources, it also has an ulterior motive to overturn China’s tea drinking culture so they can turn a profit on coffee.

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