Japan Resumes Purchases of U.S. Corn

Japan, the single biggest buyer of American corn, resumed its purchases with a 127,000-ton order days after the U.S. government agreed to begin testing to prevent StarLink gene-spliced corn from tainting exports, the U.S. Agriculture Department said. U.S. and Japanese officials spent two weeks negotiating a testing plan to satisfy Tokyo’s demands that StarLink be prevented from contaminating any corn shipments. StarLink, made by Franco-German life sciences firm Aventis, has not been approved for human consumption in the United States because of concerns it may trigger allergic reactions. Japan has even tougher rules, and does not allow StarLink in human or animal food. Japan--a key customer for U.S. farmers facing another record corn harvest--stopped its purchases after a consumer group in Tokyo announced Oct. 25 that it found traces of StarLink in a corn flour baking mix. In the United States, traces of StarLink corn were discovered in taco shells in September, unleashing a series of recalls and widespread testing by U.S. food makers. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is now considering a request by Aventis for a four-year grace period to allow StarLink-tainted corn to make its way through the American food supply. The EPA said that a science advisory panel will publish by Dec. 1 its assessment of whether StarLink corn is likely to cause an allergic reaction in people. The panel’s evaluation will be a crucial factor in determining whether the EPA agrees to grant temporary approval for StarLink in human food.