GMO Discovery Prompts Two Countries to Suspend Canadian Wheat Imports
Japan and South Korea have halted wheat imports from Canada after genetically modified wheat plants were discovered in southern Alberta.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced the discovery, leading the two Asian nations to follow through with standard protocol of temporarily closing down the market.
Japan is a top importer of Canadian wheat, accounting for 1.5 million tons of some of the highest quality, highest priced wheat from the country per year. South Korea accounts for approximately 235,000 tons of imports per year.
The GMO wheat in question was discovered by a contractor who was spraying herbicides and discovered that a few plants were not affected by the spray. Test have been conducted that concluded that the GMO variety, which was a match for a variety of GMO wheat used in field trials 20 years ago in Canada and the U.S., did not enter into the food supply chain.
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