GMO-Free Certification Needed for Long-Grain Rice Exports Headed to Europe
Rice futures plummet on biotech rice find in commercial grain bins.
Jacqui Fatka
Published: Aug 25, 2006
Wednesday the European Union said it will require all long grain rice imports from the United States be certified as free from the unauthorized biotech rice LL 601 - Bayer CropSciences biotech rice line found in commercial grain bins.
Rice futures plummeted after USDA's news last week, dropping more than 60 cents. The United States exports over 40% of its long-grain rice, including the biotech sensitive areas of Europe and the Middle East. On average the EU imports approximately 20.000 tons of long grain husked, semi-milled and wholly-milled rice from the United States per month.
Although the same modified protein in LL 601 is approved in other crops in North America, Japan and the EU, there is currently no biotech rice commercially sold today. Currently no GM rice is authorized in the EU for food and feed use or for cultivation or import. The European Food Safety Authority is currently examining one application for authorization which concerns a genetically modified rice. This is Bayer's LL Rice 62, which contains the same modified protein as the unauthorized LL Rice 601 in question. This same gene is approved for commercialization in the United States, but has not been marketed commercially.
According to a Bayer spokesman, the company is working with a five labs to certify DNA-based tests that can detect 1 biotech grain out of 3,000 pieces of grain. The spokesman could not specify how long it would take for the tests to be available "very soon," the spokesman says.
The following commercial labs are working on validating the tests:
- Biogenetic Services Inc., Brookings, S.D.
- GeneScan Incorporated, Metairie, La.
- BioDiagnostics Inc., Riverfalls Wis.
- Mid-West Seed Inc. Brookings S.D.
- SGS North America Inc., Memphis, Tenn.
The European Union will require the testing for at least the next six months, and will determine if additional testing is needed at that time, according to a European Commission press release.
Japan and South Korea expressed concern with the find, and some press reports indicated the governments would ban U.S. long grain rice. However, Japan and South Korea do not currently import any long grain rice from the United States.
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Tagged: usda, rice futures, milled rice, bayer cropsciences
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