Activists from Richmond and Twickenham Friends of the Earth will protest against so-called Frankenstein Foods outside Safeway's East Sheen store on Saturday.

The campaigners want supermarkets to stop selling the controversial foods, which include genetically engineered ingredients.

The environmental campaigners will unleash a Frankenstein-style, genetically engineered organism, the Gene Beast, to make their point.

Friends of the Earth claims public opinion backs the campaign.

And they will cite the results of a recent nationwide survey which discovered that 58 per cent of supermarket customers want stores to remove genetically engineered ingredients from the food on their shelves.

In May last year, Iceland banned all such ingredients in their own brand products, a move which further encouraged environmentalists.

John Dent, of Richmond and Twickenham Friends of the Earth, said: "The message is coming across loud and clear that the public does not want genetically engineered food or crops in this country."

He went on: "It is not enough to simply label products containing genetically engineered ingredients. They should banish these Frankenstein foods from their shelves as soon as possible."

Friends of the Earth will unleash the Gene Beast outside Safeway at 11am on Saturday.

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