>McCain Foods vice president of marketing, Mark McCauley, told a conference in Quebec that McCain has to listen when three customers who buy 45 percent of french fries sold in the world say they are nervous about consumer reaction to genetically modified potatoes.
Speaking at the Canadian Farm Business Management Council conference, McCauley said McCain banned GM potatoes in 1999 because of consumer fears and not because of any fear of GM products.
"We believe in the science of it," McCauley said. "Biotechnology has to be here to stay to feed the world."
McCauley said the safety of GM food is not in doubt and the ban on GM purchases was a direct response to consumer and market demand.