StarLink found in locally-bound food

Traces of the controversial genetically-engineered US corn StarLink have been found in Australia's food matrix.

They were detected by GeneScan Pty Ltd, an analysis company which services the Australian market for testing commercial food samples for GM organisms.

The positive result for StarLink was returned last year, according to GeneScan business development manager Mark Humble. He declined to name the customer for whom GeneScan conducted the test, but indicated that the source of the sample originated from overseas and was not Australian-grown corn.

A multinational company which opened an Australian office in 1997, GeneScan claims to dominate the GMO testing market here. Other GeneScan officials contacted about the StarLink test refused comment for attribution.

Speaking recently at an AusBiotech breakfast seminar in Brisbane, Humble said GeneScan had detected some type of genetically modified organism - including StarLink - in 28 per cent of the 1139 commercial food samples it tested over the last year. "We found it surprising that about one in three samples were positive [for GM organisms]," he said.

The bulk of the positive results came from imported US soy and corn derivatives and were concentrated in flour and powder products, he said.

The StarLink controversy erupted in late 2000 when traces of the GM corn were found in the human food chain in the US. The corn, then made by life science firm Aventis SA, was approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency for animal feed but not human use because of fears it could trigger allergic reactions.

Its discovery in corn products designed for human consumption led to the recall of 300 corn-related products in the US, the first-ever recall involving GM foods.

Fears that StarLink could find its way into food exported to other countries were borne out almost immediately when traces were found in Japanese human food and animal feed.

Despite a government-sponsored test regime set up to prevent future contamination, Japan found more StarLink traces in February 2001, prompting it to sharply cut imports of US corn.

At the time of the StarLink scare, standards body Australia New Zealand Food Authority (now Food Standards Australia New Zealand) received assurances from the major food manufacturers, specifically Kraft and Kelloggs, that they did not import corn for processed foods.

No case of StarLink-contaminated food was ever brought to the authority's attention, said Food Standards' public affairs manager Michael Dack. "Kraft and Kelloggs assured us they didn't import any product from the US, that it was all made locally. There was no evidence StarLink ever entered Australia," he said.

StarLink corn is illegal in Australia and can not be sold either as a whole food or a food ingredient.

A spokesperson for Aventis CropScience (now Bayer) in Australia said she did not believe the company ever received any reports of StarLink surfacing here. The StarLink business has since been divested and exists as a separate US company, StarLink Logistics, but Bayer has no stake in it, she said.

GeneScan customers are typically buyers of imported foodstocks who want to check their purchases or intended purchases for GM contamination before making them publicly available.

Checks with the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service and Food Standards Australia New Zealand revealed no statutory requirement for GeneScan to inform them of positive results from tests on customer-supplied samples.

Australian GeneEthics Network director Bob Phelps said government-mandated testing on imported foodstuffs was relatively lax, with only one shipment in 20 likely to be tested.

"The authorities are essentially turning a blind eye to the situation," Phelps said.

Requiring agencies such as GeneScan to report all positive tests on customer samples would potentially solve the problem but "industry would bridle at any such government monitoring," he said.

GeneEthics has been lobbying for an official register in which it would be mandatory to report adverse reactions by humans to agricultural chemicals. A similar adverse reaction register should apply for genetically engineered substances as well, he said.