BEWARE Chinese rice. That鈥檚 the message following the discovery of rice consignments containing an experimental genetically modified strain called Bt63. From 15 April, all rice imported from China into the European Union must be certified as free of Bt63.
European food importers and regulatory authorities have been told to test Chinese rice imports at random to check that documentation is not fraudulent. Products already on sale in Europe which contain Chinese rice will also be spot-checked for contamination.
But does the rice really pose a hazard? Bt63 is a bacterial protein made by GM rice to kill insect pests. The UK-based Friends of the Earth lobby group cites studies in the US and Cuba which suggest that GM rice strains containing similar proteins caused allergy-like responses in farm workers.
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The UK鈥檚 Food Standards Agency says that the rice has been officially declared 鈥渦nsafe鈥� as no one anywhere has certified it safe to eat. 鈥淥ur primary concern is that it is unauthorised, and so it shouldn鈥檛 be in the food chain,鈥� said a spokeswoman for the FSA. 鈥淭here鈥檚 only limited data available, so our default assumption is that it鈥檚 unsafe.鈥�
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