"Our telephone is ringing constantly," the Kyodo news agency quoted Akira Hanawa, president of Yokohama-based Genetic ID (Japan) Inc, as saying.
Recently a Japanese consumer organization discovered that genetically modified StarLink corn had found its way into Japan despite a ban on its importation.
Such companies as Kirin Brewery notified their importers to make sure that corn brought into Japan has no traces of genetic manipulation. And the Japanese trading house, Mitsubishi Corp, which has its own independent system for checking animal feed imported from the United States, reported a sharp decline in orders for such imports.
In the United States, genetically-modified corn had previously been used only for animal feed, but, according to reports, large amounts of corn for direct human consumption may have been genetically manipulated, with some said to have been exported.
In Japan, genetically modified StarLink corn is banned, even for use as animal feed.
Japan imports an average of about 15 million tons of maize, or corn, about 95 per cent of it from the United States. It is used in the brewing of beer and for making snacks and other food products.
The Japanese Ministry of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has agreed that corn for human consumption must be inspected for genetic manipulation. But problems between the two countries have developed over inspections of animal feed grains.
The Kyodo news agency said the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture has just begun to study the effects of StarLink maize on beef cattle and pigs.
In February, the Health Ministry in Tokyo found some suspected genetically-modified StarLink corn in about 38,000 tons of imported maize. But it was not until more than a month later that the officials made the discovery public although the corn was intended for human consumption.
U.S. officials have allowed 13 types of genetically-modified corn for human and animal consumption, but the Japanese Agriculture Ministry allows only eight genetically modified types, all for exclusive use in animal feed. But inspection methods of such corn continue to differ in both countries.
(la/dpa)
