Greenpeace has discovered illegal genetically engineered (GE) rice in a Heinz baby cereal product sold in Mainland China, the first time worldwide that illegal GE rice contamination has been detected in baby food.<\/p>\n
Greenpeace commissioned an independent laboratory to test 19 baby food and snack products sold in Beijing and found that Heinz\u2019s product contained GE rice ingredients.<\/p>\n
The Bt anti-pest rice found in Heinz\u2019s rice cereal contains proteins (Cry1Ac) that can kill pests. A Mexican scientist's research in 2000 shows that the protein may trigger an immune response inside a mouse's body and cause allergies.<\/p>\n
The same product, manufactured at the same Guangzhou factory, is also sold in major supermarkets and drug stores in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
Greenpeace demands that Heinz recall the affected batch of products immediately and prevent the batch from being imported to Hong Kong. Greenpeace also urges the Hong Kong Government to implement a comprehensive and strict GE food control and mandatory labelling system now.<\/p>\n
\"This result is truly shocking,\" said Fung Ka-keung, Greenpeace food and agriculture campaigner. \"This is the first time that illegal GE rice ingredients have been found in baby food products, a category that should be subject to the most stringent controls.\"<\/p>\n
Fung explained that babies are very susceptible to food allergies. In a 2002 report, The Royal Society, the independent scientific academy of the UK, identified babies as being particularly vulnerable to changes in the nutritional content of their food, and recommended that rigorous tests are carried out if GE ingredients are one day considered for use in infant formula.<\/p>\n
This is the second GE contamination incident that Greenpeace has exposed within the past few days. On March 12 Greenpeace discovered that the Hong Kong Government had been distributing GE papaya seedlings to farmers.<\/p>\n
GE food is similar in appearance to traditional food. Without a comprehensive and strict GE food control measures and a mandatory labelling system, Greenpeace says GE ingredients can contaminate the human food chain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Greenpeace has discovered illegal genetically engineered (GE) rice in a Heinz baby cereal product sold in Mainland China, the first time worldwide that illegal GE rice contamination has been detected in baby food.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n