November 8, 2000

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) welcomed a report that USDA and Japan's Ministry of Health and Welfare have agreed on a standard method of testing and exporting of U.S. corn for food to Japan. Under the agreement, Japanese importers will accept U.S. corn that has met quality assurance guidelines for testing, handling, transportation and identity-preservation from elevators to export ships.

"Our sampling and testing will be acceptable to our Japanese customers, and that returns certainty to the marketplace," said Lee Klein, president of NCGA and a farmer from Battle Creek, NE. StarLink hybrids have been approved for feed use in the U.S., but have not yet been cleared for food use. In Japan, StarLink is not approved for food use. A feed approval is pending in Japan.

"We applaud the hard work of U.S. and Japanese officials who negotiated their way through a very complex set of regulatory issues and different testing systems to achieve a solution that answers the needs of each sovereign trading partner," he said.

Klein noted that NCGA CEO Rick Tolman participated in September meetings between Japanese government officials and USDA that led to the testing agreement. "This is an indication of the trust the Japanese have in the ability of the U.S. grain marketing system to employ a voluntary quality assurance process that meets their nation's regulatory requirements," Klein added.

NCGA expects the next development will be StarLink's approval of feed use for StarLink in Japan and that the U.S. EPA will grant food approval of StarLink.

REUTERS reported that Japan resumed its U.S. corn purchases with a 127,000 ton order days after the testing agreement. Japan had halted purchases after a consumer group in Tokyo announced on Oct. 25 that it found traces of StarLink in a corn flour baking mix.

The sale of 127,000 ton of corn by private U.S. exporters to Japan was announced by the USDA as part of its reporting of major export sales. A USDA spokesman said he had no information on whether Japan planned to use the newly purchased corn for human consumption, livestock feed or nonfood industrial uses, according to the REUTERS article.