Biotech Corn Scare Slows Kellogg Output 
Lisa M. Collins / AP 22oct00

DETROIT -- The Kellogg Co. confirmed Saturday that it closed several lines at a cereal manufacturing plant in Memphis, Tenn., last week because a supplier could not guarantee its corn was free of a genetically modified grain not yet approved for human consumption.

Despite the partial shutdown, Joe Stewart, senior vice president of corporate affairs and chief ethics officer for Kellogg, said Saturday that the Battle Creek-based food giant is confident in the quality and safety of its products that are on grocery store and home shelves.

"It was a precautionary measure to make sure none (of the corn) gets through. We have no reason to think this has gotten into our supply," Stewart said.

The partial shutdown isn't expected to affect the price of Kellogg's products, which include Frosted Flakes and Special K cereals. Kellogg spokeswoman Christine Ervin said the plant was expected to return to full operation by early next week.

Stewart wouldn't name the corn supplier but said it had stopped operating to test for the modified corn, called StarLink, which is thought to potentially cause allergies in humans. StarLink has been approved for animal consumption but not for humans.

"I'm sure there are other plants in other locations that have had to shut down, because this supplier doesn't only supply us," Stewart said. "This is a national food supply problem, not a Kellogg-specific problem."

Some grain suppliers have recently been unable to certify that their corn is free of the gene-altered StarLink, which apparently was mixed with regular corn in multiple sites around the country in violation of federal regulations.

Aventis CropScience of Research Triangle Park, N.C., which makes StarLink, is trying to recover 9 million bushels of the grain, which may have been shipped to mills.

The Food and Drug Administration is testing a variety of corn products, but officials said StarLink had been found only in taco shells so far.