US government scientists are rushing to certify a test that would identify an unapproved genetically modified rice that has slipped into commercial supplies, an inspection official said on Tuesday.
Work is being done quickly in an effort to ease fears of US rice customers who don't want the experimental strain mixed into their supplies.
"We're very close. Very shortly we should be able to provide the marketplace with the analysis they need," Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration Deputy Administrator David Shipman said in an interview.
Shipman said a valid test could be ready for the market within a few days, possibly as early as Wednesday, the day the European Union is expected to launch measures to ensure that the unauthorised rice, known as LLRICE 601, does not enter consumer markets there.
The 25-country European Union is a large importer of US long grain rice, buying about 300,000 tonnes of US rice last year, with 85 percent of that long grain rice. No genetically modified (GMO) rice is authorised for import or sale within the EU.
"There are countries that are interested in knowing whether rice being shipped to them contains this 601," said Shipman. "Having this methodology will allow an exporter to ... verify for the buyer it doesn't contain, or does contain, that particular event."
In terms of the time frame for making such a test available, Shipman said: "We're looking at days and maybe not even plural."
GIPSA began working with Bayer CropScience, a unit of Bayer AG, about two weeks ago after US agriculture and food safety authorities learned on July 31 that Bayer's unapproved, experimental GMO rice had been found in rice bins in Arkansas and Missouri.
Bayer supplied GIPSA with reference material and methodology it uses to distinguish the 601 strain and GIPSA's goal is to validate the company's specific testing methods for commercial use, said Shipman.
Bayer spokesman Greg Coffey had no comment on the status of GIPSA's work. But he said Bayer was also "supporting several commercial laboratories in setting up a testing method for industry use if requested."
The 601 contamination marks the first time that unmarketed genetically unauthorised biotech rice had been detected in long-grain samples targeted for commercial use. And Bayer has not disclosed specifically how it became aware of the contamination.
Japan, for which the United States is the largest rice exporter, has already suspended imports of US long-grain rice.
Rice futures slid to a two-week low on the Chicago Board of Trade on Tuesday on concerns about the US's rice export business.
US authorities say the GMO strain poses no risk to public health or the environment. But anti-biotech activists say this is but the latest in a long list of examples of flawed government oversight of potentially harmful transgendered crops.
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