Food authority bans import of US GM rice

A ban is to be placed on certain rice products imported into Ireland from the United States unless it can be proved they are free of genetically modified (GM) ingredients.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) said today it would impose the ban on some long grain rice products unless they are accompanied by certificates to say they are GM free.

The body said it was part of an EU-wide move in response to notification by US authorities to the European Commission of the presence of "unauthorised GM rice" in commercial varieties on the US market.

It said that while there are no "immediate food safety issues" associated with the rice in the food chain, but that the GM line had not been authorised either in the US or the EU and should not be on the market.

So-called 'LL Rice 601' is one of a number of GM rice lines developed by the biotech company, Bayer that were engineered to tolerate the herbicide, glufosinate ammonium.

GM rice is not authorised in the EU, but the safety of one particular line in the US is currently being assessed by the European Food Safety Authority.

Dr. Pat O'Mahony, chief specialist, biotechnology, with the FSAI said: "Consumers can be assured that this is not a food safety issue but is related to the presence of an unauthorised line of GM rice in the food chain which is not tolerated under EU law.

"The FSAI has been in contact with Customs and Excise to determine the level of long grain rice product imports from the US, and to ensure that only long grain rice products with the proper clearance certificates are allowed into Ireland."

An anti-GM campaign group claimed, however, that the Bayer GM rice "may have contaminated the Irish and UK food chain for the past eight years".

Michael O'Callaghan, who co-ordinates the GM-free Ireland Network, representing 124 farm and food groups on the island, said: "This latest contamination scandal shows how easily European and Irish food are being contaminated by imports of both illegal and legal GM food and animal feed from the USA and other countries in North and South America.

"The fact that such contamination may have occurred for years without being discovered should be the final nail in the coffin of the unworkable EC and Irish Government plans to allow the so-called 'co-existence' of GM crops with conventional and organic farming.

"It makes a farce of the government's claim that one can keep GM and conventional foods separate from farm to fork. He also said Ireland should follow the lead of the EU's largest agricultural producer, Poland, and implement a blanket ban on GM seeds and crops with immediate effect."

In March, the Polish government said it was opposed to the cultivation of GM crops, but declared it was in favour of importing GM produce "on condition it is clearly marked, and providing there is no possibility it is transformed" into other products.