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Technical Update - Genetically Engineered Rice Unintentionally Released in the US

Related Updates: Technical Recommendations | 2006-09-29 | 2006-09-07 | 2006-08-28

September 29, 2006

On August 18, 2006, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that trace amounts of an unapproved line of genetically engineered rice (LLRICE601), developed by Bayer Crop Science, had been unintentionally released in long grain rice in the United States. This rice has been genetically engineered to be tolerant to a herbicide.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Health Canada have completed preliminary scientific risk assessments that indicate that , at low levels, LLRICE601 is unlikely to pose a risk to human health, the environment or livestock. Although LLRICE601 poses no identified safety risks, it is not approved for release into the Canadian market. Accordingly, the Agency has been in communication with industry representatives about their responsibility to take appropriate steps to minimize the potential for LLRICE601 to be inadvertently brought into Canada, either as food or livestock feed.

The Agency is implementing a strategy to verify industry compliance with the Food and Drugs Act and Regulations and the Feeds Act and Regulations. This strategy is initially targeting single-ingredient long grain rice imports from the US. The strategy combines the use of paper audits of importer documentation and CFIA sampling and testing of imported lots of rice for the presence of LLRICE601 in rice imports that enter Canada. The Agency will evaluate this strategy after approximately two months. Following this review, any changes will be communicated to affected industry representatives and through web updates. Technical recommendations for industry are available here.