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Japan P & G recalls Pringles over barred GM potato

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JAPAN: July 18, 2001

 

 

TOKYO - Japanese fans of Pringles potato chips will have to cut down on the hit

snack after the Japanese unit of Procter & Gamble Co (P & G) said on Tuesday it

would recall 800,000 packs made with unapproved gene-spliced potatoes.

 

 

 

The recall is only the latest to affect snack products in Japan since stricter

rules were imposed in April to guard the country against food imports containing

unapproved genetically modified (GM) products.

Procter and Gamble Far East Inc said it was voluntarily recalling the Pringles

chips that were produced in the United States between last August and April this

year and imported to Japan.

 

The recalled quantity of chips represents about eight percent of the company's

average monthly sales or nearly 10 million packs of the chips in Japan, it said.

 

While the safety of the genetically modified (GM) potatoes - NewLeaf Plus and

NewLeaf Y - used in the chips had been verified in the United States and Canada,

they are not approved in Japan.

 

Shares of Procter & Gamble closed up $1.01, or 1.48 percent, at $69.15 on

Monday.

 

The NewLeaf varieties were developed by leading US agricultural biotech firm

Monsanto Co to protect potatoes from insects and potato viruses. In 1998,

Monsanto's Japan unit applied for approval of NewLeaf Plus, but a decision is

still pending.

 

Japan's new rules established zero tolerance for imports containing unapproved

gene-altered products and require mandatory labelling for approved GM products.

 

Since April, Japan's Health Ministry has been checking for unapproved GM crops

in food imports at unloading ports and in food products on the domestic market.

Japanese food makers have also voluntarily been checking their products in a bid

to retain consumer confidence.

 

 

SERIES OF FOOD RECALLS

 

The snack recall comes a day after House Foods Corp said it would resume

production of its O'ZACK potato snacks late this month with sales set to restart

in Japan on August 27.

 

In late May, Japan's Health Ministry ordered House Foods to recall its O'ZACK

snacks, after the ministry found traces of NewLeaf Plus potatoes in them.

 

House Foods' recall was Japan's first since the stricter rules on biotech

products took effect.

 

In the wake of the recall, House Foods said it had stopped buying processed

potatoes from the United States and Canada, and instead turned to suppliers in

Germany and the Netherlands where gene-altered potatoes are not cultivated.

 

House Foods' recall was followed by similar recalls of snack products by Japan's

unlisted Calbee Foods Co Ltd on June 20, Bourbon Corp on June 22, and Morinaga

and Co on July 11.

 

The food recalls, reminiscent of the StarLink furore late last year, have

deepened public distrust of GM foods in Japan, which is the top US corn buyer,

and fanned concerns that more gene-spliced StarLink corn could end up on store

shelves.

 

The discovery of StarLink in food products last October by a consumer group had

prompted Japan, where StarLink is not approved even for animal feed, to cut

sharply its US corn buying. Importers had to scramble to find other supply

sources.

 

StarLink, made by Franco-German biotech firm Aventis SA to fight a destructive

pest known as the European corn borer, has not been approved by US regulators

for human consumption because of fears over potential allergic reactions.

 

 

 

 

Story by Jae Hur

 

 

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE