More basmati rice is being rejected by border controls due to contamination with GM material, which could indicate “food fraud”, certification firm Cert ID Europe has claimed.
Richard Warren, Cert ID Europe’s managing director, said the number of border alerts in the UK, France, German and Denmark on imported rice had doubled year-on-year.
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Testing on rice from India and Pakistan showed the shipments contained GM ingredients banned by the EU.
“Basmati rice is a special, high value rice and assuming it is not available in GM form, one may conclude these consignments are being deliberately cut with cheap GM-rice to boost profits,” Warren said. “Food manufacturers simply should not put any trust or credence in the paperwork accompanying any imported rice, rice derivatives or products containing rice. Enforcement attention has been on Chinese imports but evidence and past experience demonstrates non-GM assurances based on geographical origin are insecure because of the way global supply chains work.”
