Top Chefs Gagging Over Biotech Food
WASHINGTON — A thousand of the nation’s top chefs have vowed to boycott genetically engineered foods and press for mandatory labeling of such products to protect the quality and safety of meals they serve.
“I am not willing to offer my patrons, my family or myself as a testing ground for a new generation of bio-engineered foods,” Rick Moonen, chef at New York’s posh Water Club, said at the press conference.
Of Vice President Dan Quayle’s statement in May that bio-engineered foods are no more dangerous than others, restaurateur Wolfgang Puck, owner of West Hollywood’s Spago, said: “Maybe Dan Quayle will not be a customer, but we don’t need him anyway.”
Industry officials criticized the boycott, saying biotechnology promises safe, nutritious new foods.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
