Commission spokesperson Jonathan Todd, speaking to a press briefing on 31 August, said: "The contamination could date back to January [2006] if not earlier. We cannot exclude that contaminations of products have taken place, so we have asked EU member states to carry out extensive tests on products on the market."
A 25,000-tonne shipment of long-grain rice coming from New Orleans had been stopped in Rotterdam on 26 August and was being inspected by Dutch authorities upon suspicion that it is contaminated with the unauthorised LL601 variety, Todd added.
"The Dutch authorities confirmed that [the shipment] remains under control" and that the unauthorised rice "has not been placed on the market". It is currently undergoing tests, Todd added.
The EU imposed systematic checks at its borders on 23 August as an emergency measure after US authorities reported that traces of the unauthorised GM rice variety LL601 were found in commercial samples (EurActiv 24 Aug. 2006). LL601, a product developed by Bayer Crop Science, is currently not approved in the EU, nor in the US.
US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said that "the presence of LLRICE 601 in the food and feed supply poses no safety concerns". Investigations are underway to "determine the circumstances surrounding the release", Johanns added.
In a separate development, the US Environmental Protection Agency said that a grass that had been specifically engineered for golf courses had been found growing in the wild. The Creeping bentgrass was engineered by Monsanto to resist the popular herbicide Roundup to allow more efficient weed control on golf courses.
