<font color=Salmon>Recall of taco shells containing biotech corn.
September 22, 2000
Kraft Foods Recalls Taco Shells
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:34 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Kraft Foods on Friday recalled all taco shells sold
nationwide in supermarkets under the Taco Bell brand after tests confirmed
they were made with genetically engineered corn that isn't approved for
human consumption.
The corn, one of the least grown of several biotech varieties, is approved for
use only in animal feed because of questions about whether it could cause
allergic reactions in people.
Tests commissioned by an anti-biotech environmental group found traces of
the corn in taco shells that had been purchased in a Washington suburb, and
tests performed for Kraft at an independent lab showed the corn in ``multiple''
samples of the product, the company said.
The recall does not apply to shells sold through Taco Bell restaurants, but
Taco Bell Corp. said it will replace its shells next week. The company said it
buys shells through the same Mexican processor that supplies Kraft, and
tests for the corn have proven inconclusive. Taco Bell ordered the plant to
switch suppliers for its corn flour.
The Food and Drug Administration said there was no known threat to human
health from the corn.
Kraft, a division of Philip Morris Inc., said it would discontinue production of
the shells until it can be sure there is no more of the genetically engineered
corn in the meal it buys.
Kraft did not know how many packages were in homes, stores or in
distribution channels, but a spokesman said it was safe to say the number is
in the millions.
``As soon as we learned that there might be an issue in the supply chain we
purchased from, we have been guided by one priority, the safety of our
products and their compliance with all regulatory requirements,'' said Betsy
Holden, Kraft's chief executive.
The nationwide recall includes packages labeled Taco Bell Home Originals 12
Taco Shells, Taco Bell Home Originals 18 Taco Shells and Taco Bell Home
Originals Taco Dinner (12 shells, sauce and seasoning).
The corn, which contains a bacterium gene that makes it toxic to an insect
pest, is produced by Aventis Corp. and goes under the trade name StarLink.
Kraft said the government should not allow farmers to grow a biotech crop
that isn't approved for human consumption. The taco shells were made for
Kraft in Mexico by Sabritas Mexicali, a unit of PepsiCo Inc., with meal
processed by Dallas-based Azteca Milling at a plant in Plainview, Texas.
``All of us -- government, industry and the scientific community -- need to
work on ways to prevent this kind of situation from ever happening again,''
Holden said.
The taco shells were among 23 corn products that representatives of the
Friends of the Earth submitted to Iowa-based Genetic ID Inc. for testing for
the Cry9C protein.
The Kraft recall was a setback to the biotechnology industry, which has been
battling critics who claim the crops are a threat to human health and the
environment. In Britain, the crops have been denounced as ``Frankenfood,''
but criticism in the United States has been muted. In the United States,
companies have been spending millions of dollars on a pro-biotech advertising
campaign.
``It is unclear how this occurred, but we must find out,'' said Carl Feldbaum,
president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization.
The recall ``demonstrates that consumers are not being protected by the
federal agencies assigned this critical responsibility,'' said Rebecca Goldburg,
senior scientist at Environmental Defense.
Government regulators insist the crops are safe, and the Environmental
Protection Agency released a study earlier this week saying none of the
insect-resistant crops have been developed so far pose any significant risks.
But scientists advising EPA, which regulates pest-resistant crops, have been
unable to agree whether StarLink is allergenic.
FDA officials called the recall a ``prudent step'' and said it was continuing an
investigation to determine how the corn got into the taco shells. Earlier this
year, the agency proposed a series of steps for increasing government
scrutiny of biotech food, including requiring mandatory safety reviews of
new products.
``We're very confident about the process that's in place in terms of ensuring
the safety of the public,'' said James Maryanski, FDA's biotechnology
coordinator.
Kraft's action comes on the heels of Bridgestone/Firestone's massive recall of
tires on Ford Explorers and other light trucks.
Consumers should return the taco shells to the store where they were bought
for full refunds, Kraft said.
The StarLink corn was grown on about 300,000 acres this year nationwide,
or about 0.4 percent of the total U.S. corn acreage.
Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company |
