Japan’s health ministry said today (1 August) that it has found three cases of unauthorised genetically modified rice being imported in Chinese processed foods.

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Japan stepped up testing for the Bt-63 variety of GM rice in Chinese food imports after the EU detected it in rice imported from China earlier this year.


The health agency said in a statement that in May tests on a shipment of rice noodles detected the presence of Bt-63, while in April two separate cargos of sticky rice flower were found to contain the GMO.


Under Japanese policy, these shipments are either destroyed or returned to the country of origin.


Australia and New Zealand’s food safety authority announced yesterday that it too had detected unauthorised imports of the rice and has taken steps to prevent its sale.

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