By Laura Crowley
The food industry is being asked to work with the European Commission to
implement testing measures for rice imports from China to prevent
unauthorised GM material entering the European food system.
The new strict methods will come into force on April 15th, following the
identification of rice contaminated with the GMO Bt63 in imports from China.
Bt63 is not authorised in either China or the EU.

While the Commission is responsible for regulation, under EU law, business
operators are responsible for the safety of food or feed they put on the
market.

Food companies and local authorities are being asked to inform enforcement
authorities if such GM rice has left their possession and to recall it if it
has reached consumers.

However, a spokesperson for FSA said she could not comment on the
probability of Bt63 rice still being on the market. She said this will
become apparent after the testing has been carried out.

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) sent out a letter today.

It said Chinese imports of rice and rice products may now only be placed on
the EU market if: "a) they are accompanied by an original analytical report
issued by an official or accredited laboratory which demonstrates that the
product does not contain Bt63 or b) satisfactory results of analysis are
received by the food authority at the point of entry to the Community,
following sampling carried out by or under the supervision of that
authority."

It added that positive and negative results must be reported to the
Commission as emergency measures "need to be taken to ensure that products
which are found to contain, consist or to be produced from GM rice 'Bt63'
are not placed on the market".

Although the Agency says it is unaware of any health implications for
consumers who eat rice products containing Bt63, European regulation
1829/2003 states that GM food and feed should not be placed on the EU market
unless it is covered by an authorisation.

GM rice incident
GM contamination of Chinese rice was first discovered in September 2006. The
Chinese authorities announced measures to address the problem of GM rice in
2007, including sampling and testing and an official Chinese Inspection and
Quarantine Certifical.


Despite these measures, the presence of some material containing BT 63 was
still being reported in some countries late last year, meaning the European
Commission was forced to draw up stringent testing policies.

The Commission's Standing Committee of Food Chain and Animal Health voted in
February to introduce the emergency measures.

The European Commission has now set out the chain of responsibility for
ensuring that imported products do not contain GM material.

It says that China is responsible for ensuring that Bt63 does not enter the
EU food chain, and that imports are certified as free from this GMO.

Authorities in member states are responsible for controlling imports at
their borders, and preventing contaminated consignments appearing on the
market.
Member states should also conduct controls on products already on the market
to ensure they are Bt63-free.

Finally, businesses importing rice products from China are responsible for
ensuring Bt63 does not enter the food chain, and that imports are Bt63-free.

US contaminated rice
This appeal to businesses comes the same week it was decided rice imported
from the United States no longer needs to be tested for GMO presence both at
the point of export and on arrival in the EU, following an amendment to
measures following a similar contamination incident.

Bayer's LL Rice 601, deisgned to tolerate the herbicide glufosinate
ammonium, was discovered in batches of American long grain rice in the EU in
August 2006. At that time the rice variety was not approved for human
consumption. It has since been approved in the US, but no GM rice is allowed
in the EU.

The two incidents have had a large impact on the rice industry, and brought
into question the efficiency of the food alert system.

The FSA came under considerable fire when LLRice 601 was discovered in
American rice supplies intended for export.

Friends of the Earth called for a judicial review, saying the FSA should
have done more work with local authorities and the food industry to ensure
illegal GM rice was detected and removed from shelves and other parts of the
market.
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