EU to consider US corn gluten ban

The European Union is considering a temporary ban on imports of corn gluten animal feed from the United States after shipments of an unauthorised genetically modified corn have been sent to the EU.

US exports of corn gluten feed to the EU reached $450 last year

EU spokesman Philip Tod said on Monday the EU would consider the ban after a meeting of European food safety experts on Tuesday, and a meeting on Monday between Syngenta’s CEO Michael Pragnell and EU Health Commissioner Markos Kypriano.

 

The dispute concerns US handling of a case involving a type of biotech animal feed called Bt10 that Swiss agrochemicals company Syngenta AG inadvertently sold in the United States and exported to Europe without approval.

 

Tod said the decision to suspend imports could depend on Syngenta providing European authorities with a method for detecting Bt-10.

 

He added that the ban could remain in place until the EU was given a means of detecting Bt10 or received assurances from Washington that feed consignments were no longer contaminated.

 

US exports of corn gluten feed to the EU totaled $450 million last year, up slightly from 2003.

Source: AFP