Health

Kraft to Recall Taco Shells

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 31, 2002 / 8:40 AM EST / CBS

Kraft Foods announced today it is recalling all of the taco shells that it sells in supermarkets under the Taco Bell brand after tests confirmed they were made with genetically engineered corn that isn't approved for human consumption.

Fifteen members of Congress Thursday demanded the Food and Drug Administration recall the shells. The FDA, which says it has no reason to believe the shells are unsafe, was collecting samples to test the taco shells.

While there are no known reports of injury, the discovery of the genetically modified corn--by the coalition Genetically Engineered Food Alert--is the most serious evidence so far of the potential risk in gene-altered food, reports CBS News Correspondent Wyatt Andrews.

The environmental group found traces of the corn in taco shells that had been purchased in suburban Washington. Tests performed for Kraft at an independent lab found similar results.

Neither the government nor the biotech industry has ever conclusively proven the danger or safety of the corn involved. Produced by Aventis Corp., the corn--called StarLink--was approved by federal authorities in 1998 only as animal feed.

Announcing its discovery, the coalition demanded the government order a recall, and said samples of taco shells from Taco Bell Restaurants will be tested soon.

Larry Bohlen of Friends of the Earth, a member of the coalition, said, "We're saying the FDA should use their authority and seize the product."

"This is a possible allergen illegally on the market," said Jane Rissler of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Federal officials had earlier called the possibility that the modified corn had been made it into food products "very serious" if confirmed by further testing.

"If there has been a violation of our licensing process, then we would have a very great concern," Stephen Johnson, an assistant administrator for pesticides at the Environmental Protection Agency, told <em>The Washington Post</em>, which broke the story.

"Likewise, we would want to make sure we are completely protecting the public health," he said.

FDA officials say the possible presence of StarLink corn in human food is "unlawful."

While the biotech industry argues that StarLink is safe, the Environmental Protection Agency disagrees, saying "information...indicates that Cry9c exhibits some characteristics of known allergens."

Because the corn has been genetically modified in a way that makes it more difficult to break down in the human gut, federal agencies have refused to approve it for human use.

The taco shells tested were manufactured in Mexico for Taco Bell and were distributed by Kraft Foods, Inc. Taco Bell is owned by Tricon Global Restaurants Inc., and Kraft is a unit of Philip Morris Cos.

On Monday, The Washington Post quoted Michael Mudd, Kraft's vice president for corporate affairs, as saying that the corn was bought by a Texas miller from farmers in six states and that te miller had ordered a conventional form of corn.

"This is a serious issue, and Kraft is doing everything we can to confirm whether or not this material is present in the product," he said. "If it is confirmed, we will immediately take, in consultation with the FDA, all appropriate steps."

The food industry, however, noted the Iowa lab that did the taco test, Genetic ID, is biased against biotech products.

At least once before, the company came to conclusions about the presence of genetically modified materials that were later proved inaccurate, according to The Washington Post, which broke the story.

Anne Heagert, a spokeswoman for Genetic ID, told CBS News, "We found the DNA of the variety of corn that contains that protein, without any doubt."

While most of the U.S. political, scientific and commercial establishment has embraced biotechnology as safe and useful, activists continue to raise questions about its use and hope to inspire the kind of widespread baklash present in Europe.

The Taco Bell finding could be a windfall for those biotech critics.

"We do see it as a warning signal to the American public that there's no adequate system to look out for these genetically engineered ingredients," said Bohlen.

The StarLink corn is genetically modified to contain the plant pesticide Bacillus thuringienis, or Bt, which kills the destructive European corn borer. While there are many varieties of Bt corn now, StarLink is the only one that contains the Cry9C protein, which federal officials have concluded might cause an allergic reaction in some people.

However, some studies indicate that, by all available evidence, StarLink is safe.

In a 1999 memo to the EPA, Aventis admitted "there are currently no validated models for the prediction" of whether a particular food will cause human allergies, which 1 to 2 percent of humans have.

But, Aventis argued, StarLink is probably safe because its source material hasn't been found to cause allergies, mice and poultry fed StarLink corn feed didn't get sick, and "Corn has no known history of food allergy."