Yo Quiero Answers: How Did Banned Corn Get In Taco Shells? 27490

Yo Quiero Answers: How Did Banned Corn Get In Taco Shells?

WASHINGTON--A seemingly innocuous press release picked up by the national media ballooned in September into a call for increased regulation and segregation of bioengineered crops. Government regulators, food manufacturers and consumer groups all tried to unravel how a strain of bioengineered corn that was not approved for human consumption made its way onto grocery store shelves.

The anti-biotech coalition Genetically Engineered Food Alert (GEFA) purchased Taco Bell brand taco shells (made by the Kraft subsidiary of Phillip Morris) at a grocery store. Tests by the testing lab Genetic ID identified the presence of a corn variety called StarLink, which is sold by Aventis Corp. The corn was approved in 1998 by federal authorities for animal feed, but was denied approval for human use because of allergen concerns. The corn contains Bacillus thuringienis (Bt) pesticide and the protein Cry9C. While several types of bioengineered corn contain Bt, StarLink is the only one with the Cry9C protein, which may not be easily absorbed in the gut, possibly causing an allergic reaction.

The taco shells were manufactured by Sabritas Mexicali in Mexicali, Mexico, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PepsiCo Inc. The company gets its corn flour from Azteca Milling, L.P. in Plainview, Texas. Neither Kraft Foods nor Philip Morris has any affiliation to Taco Bell restaurants, which is owned by Tricon Global Restaurants Inc.

On Sept. 22, Kraft announced that it was issuing a voluntary nationwide recall of all Taco Bell Home Original taco shell products. Betsy Holden, president of Kraft, stated in a company press release that "Through all we have learned [about GMOs] there appears to be no evidence of health concerns." Taco Bell restaurants also announced that day that it would replace taco shells at all 7,000 of its restaurants, since its shells were also manufactured by Sabritas Mexicali.

The recall notices were followed by a decision by Aventis to stop sales of StarLink corn for the 2001 growing season. According to a company release, Aventis will not resume sales of the StarLink corn until it receives a food clearance from the Enviromental Protection Agency (EPA). "The stop sale is aimed at restoring public confidence in our company's efforts to assure that StarLink corn grain does not enter food channels," it stated.

While industry groups and government members cheered the recall and stop sale decisions, they also called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and EPA to develop stricter guidelines on the safety and regulation of GM foods. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman said "We've got to do a better job of segregating those commodities to make sure that we basically protect people from things that haven't been approved." Carl B. Feldbaum, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) issued a statement stating "FDA, EPA and the Department of Agriculture have rigorous policies in place, which in this instance may have been violated. ... Measures must be taken so this does not occur again."

Perhapsstrongest of all was a statement from Rep. Dennis Kuchinich (D-Ohio), sponsor oflegislation to label biotech foods. "This discovery just shows thatgenetically engineered ingredients should not be on the grocery store shelveswhen so poorly regulated by FDA," Kuchinich was quoted as saying in arelease from GEFA. For more information visit www.epa.gov or www.kraft.com/special_report/index.html .