Post date: Jun 01, 2013 12:40:46 AM
U.S. officials are investigating how unapproved genetically modified wheat may have shown up in an Oregon field, prompting major buyers like Japan and South Korea to halt the import of U.S. wheat.
(NBC) - The United States is still racing to determine how unapproved genetically modified wheat was found growing in an Oregon field, a discovery that continued to roil global wheat markets on Friday (May 31) as South Korean buyers stepped aside.
South Korean millers suspended imports of U.S. wheat on Friday and some Asian countries increased inspections after the discovery of the unapproved wheat, but stopped short of imposing import bans.U.S. officials are attempting to tamp down global alarm about the wheat, developed by biotech giantMonsanto Co. more than a decade ago but never put into commercial production. Field tests on GMO wheat were last conducted in 2005.
"Right now we are only aware of one field, that's the good news, we' re hoping it's very limited," saidKaty Coba, director of Oregon's Department of Agriculture.
The discovery of the long-forgotten strain prompted major buyer Japan to shun wheat from the Pacific Northwest at its weekly tender on Thursday, while the European Union said it would step up testing.
So far, rival exporter Canada has not seen any benefit from the incident, a major Canadian merchant said, predicting that the nervous response from buyers might soon fade. The impact of the GMO wheat find has been felt mostly on cash prices in the Pacific Northwest, a key market for Asian buyers to purchase supplies of white wheat.
Still, South Korea - which last year sourced roughly half of its total wheat imports of 5 million tons from the U.S. - has also raised quarantine measures on U.S. wheat bought to feed livestock, whileThailand put ports on alert.
Wheat distributors in the United States are hoping that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) will restore the confidence of foreign buyers.
"I think if we can get answers in a week or two, I don't think it's going to disrupt commercial trade. If it drags beyond a couple of weeks into months then it's more of an issue," said Kurt Harmann ofPortland-based Columbia Grain.
To pin down the origin of the wheat, USDA extracted DNA from the tissue of wheat plants collected by its investigators from the Oregon field, and sent material to three facilities.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has said the wheat posed no threat to human health.