FDA widens testing of food for biotech corn

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The Food and Drug Administration plans to test snack chips, breakfast cereals and other foods to see if they contain the same unapproved variety of biotech corn found in taco shells, a government source said Monday.

The FDA decided to take the action after its own tests confirmed the presence of a gene-spliced corn variety made by Aventis SA in Taco Bell shells. The corn, sold to farmers under the brand name StarLink, is allowed in animal feed but has not been approved for use in human food because of concerns about allergic reactions.

"The agency does plan to test other processed corn products in the near future but the details have not yet been worked out," said an FDA official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The contamination of taco shells with an unapproved biotech corn has ratcheted up public and congressional concern about the adequacy of U.S. regulations for genetically engineered foods. It has also contributed to a growing split between food companies determined to protect their brand names and seed companies, who contend gene-altered foods have passed countless safety tests.

Anti-biotech activists with a coalition known as GE Food Alert met Monday with FDA officials to urge them to take tougher measures to protect human food. The coalition initially discovered the contamination of taco shells two weeks ago through their own scientific tests.

"The FDA told us they agreed to start testing other processed foods containing yellow No. 2 corn," such as chips, cereal and other brands of taco shells, said Matt Rand, coordinator for the coalition. "They aren't certain of the scope and breadth of the testing yet."

Kraft Foods, a unit of Philip Morris that manufactured the Taco Bell brand shells, announced a voluntary recall of the product more than a week ago. At that time, Kraft also said it may be time for federal regulators to modify rules to prevent another occurrence.

The FDA, which has been criticized by some groups for its slow response, will officially announce a recall of the same taco shells on Wednesday, Rand said.

A key issue for regulators -- and the thousands of U.S. farmers who grow various biotech varieties -- is how to keep the gene-spliced crops separate. Kraft purchased corn flour for the taco shells and other products from a Texas miller, who acquired corn from a grain elevator, which in turn purchased bushels of corn from various farmers.

"The FDA told us they have no idea how it entered the human food supply," Rand added.

To reassure Japan and other big foreign buyers of U.S. corn, the U.S. Agriculture Department said last week it would spend between $90 and $100 million to immediately purchase all the remaining StarLink corn from farmers. The corn will be carefully segregated and stored in facilities, until it is used for animal feed.

The USDA said Aventis would reimburse all the costs of the unprecedented buy-back of gene-spliced crops.

Keith Pitts, a special assistant to Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, told reporters that letters were scheduled to be mailed to some 2,500 growers of StarLink corn Monday. Each farmer will be offered a 25-cent a bushel premium above local prices for their corn.

The USDA, the FDA and the Environmental Protection Agency share responsibility for regulating various aspects of biotech foods.

All three regulators, Pitts said, have come to a "general agreement" that future biotech crops will be more closely scrutinized to make sure they are edible by both humans and animals.

"It's going to need to be approved for human food use or until we have a greater level of confidence that the marketing channels can deal with segregation," Pitts told reporters.

A protein contained in the StarLink corn, which is engineered to resist European corn borers, is safe for animals but EPA scientists worry that it may cause allergic reactions in humans such as fever, rashes or diarrhea. The protein, known as Cry9C, is not in any other bioengineered crops.

The FDA has been trying to complete a set of regulations that will convert the now-voluntary consultations between seed companies and agency scientists into mandatory consultation. The agency, which has resisted calls to require labels on all gene-spliced foods, is also preparing guidelines for food companies that may wish to use voluntary labels.

The rules, expected by late September, are unlikely to surface now until after the November presidential election.

Green groups have criticized the expected rules as failing to go far enough to boost consumer confidence in the products.

Those rules "are a completely separate issue" from the StarLink corn contamination, the FDA official said. "Once they are published, the public will have a chance to comment on our proposed rules."

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Government test confirms unapproved corn in taco shells
October 2, 2000
Genetically engineered foods causing some concerns
September 26, 2000
U.S. corn growers back Kraft taco shell recall
September 25, 2000

National Grain and Feed Association
Food and Drug Administration
National Corn Growers Association

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