Safeway is one of the largest supermarket chains in the country and was another early target of consumer activists. A shareholder resolution was filed in 2000 and, similar to Kellogg, As You Sow developed an investor fact sheet that looked at Safeway's financial liabilities associated with use of GE products. As You Sow conducted a media campaign around the Safeway shareholder meeting that resulted in extensive Bay Area TV, radio, and print coverage.

An exchange at the 2000 annual meeting between As You Sow and Safeway CEO Steve Burd was an example of things to come. Said Burd, "genetic engineering is not gene splicing", "these foods are pervasive, we have been eating it for decades", and government agencies "thoroughly tested and monitor" these products. AYS explained that the gene splicing is genetic engineering - fish genes were being inserted into tomatoes; that these products had only been pervasive for the last three years; and that testing had focused on the desired effect such as herbicide resistance or increased growth - and had not studied environmental and health related issues; and that the government did no testing, relied on voluntary consulting from the companies profiting from these products, and that regulatory loopholes exist like the Bt potato being classified as a pesticide not a food. This lack of understanding of GE foods, and in particular, the misunderstanding of the government's role in testing and oversight, was typical of the 40 companies that shareholders eventually approached about this issue. Five months later Safeway found itself the top story of extensive national TV, radio, and print coverage as Safeway brand taco shells and other food items were found to contain Starlink corn - a GE corn not approved for human consumption - that led to a massive recall of Safeway products.