October 27, 2000

The French government said 10 companies that make tripe and animal feed received meat products from a herd of cattle in western France that contained a cow suffering from mad cow disease, REUTERS reports.

French officials said they were trying to retrieve the potentially contaminated meat products, but some may have already been consumed. Meanwhile, French Farm Minister Jean Glavany said France might ban meat and bone meal from animal feed, but make up for the protein loss by planting more oilseed crops than allowed under a 1992 trade agreement with the United States.

President Jacques Chirac called for the ban on Wednesday and also called for more testing, REUTERS reports. The new revelations of problems with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) triggered widespread alarm in France. StarLink Continues to Roil Farm Sector

Aventis SA told U.S. regulators it could be four years before all the StarLink corn works its way through the U.S. food and feed system, REUTERS reports. In a report to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the company said that at most 12% of this year's StarLink crop – under 10 million bushels – had been commingled into food products.

U.S. corn sales to Asia and other overseas markets could suffer because of the controversy over StarLink, which is approved in the United States for feed but not food uses – the only bioengineered crop that has been released under such a split approval. The difficulty of completely segregating corn into non-food channels has become painfully apparent as StarLink has shown up in food products.

Aventis urged regulators to give a four-year grace period so all the current unaccounted corn can work its way through market channels, according to REUTERS. EPA refused to approve StarLink for food use because of concerns about rashes, diarrhea or other possible allergic reactions. However, Aventis asserts that the corn "shows no potential to adversely impact individuals who currently suffer from food allergy."