US Tightens Japan-Bound Corn Tests AP 21feb01

WASHINGTON - The Agriculture Department agreed Wednesday to tighten testing requirements for corn bound for Japan to prevent shipments of grain contaminated with a biotech variety not approved for food use.

Last month, Japanese inspectors found traces of genetically engineered StarLink corn in grain that had tested negative for the biotech variety before it left the United States.

Now, shipments will be tested at a rate of 2,400 kernels per sample, double the amount tested under procedures set up after the genetically engineered StarLink grain was found in Japan last fall, USDA said.

The Food and Drug Administration earlier advised U.S. millers to do similar testing on all corn they process.

StarLink was never approved for human consumption because of unanswered questions about its potential to cause allergic reactions. However, the corn was found in taco shells last fall, prompting nationwide recalls of those and other corn products.

American exports of corn to Japan fell sharply after a Japanese consumer group complained in October that StarLink had been detected in snack foods and animal feed there.

Japan bans genetically engineered corn because it has not finished assessing possible health risks.

• USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service: http://www.fas.usda.gov