GMO-Ethanol Corn Contamination Raises Concerns About Another “StarLink” Disaster
Food corn buyers say Syngenta’s Enogen GMO corn is contaminating non-GMO white corn fields, creating a potential “trainwreck;” may be linked to bad masa flour in California.
May 5, 2017 | Source: The Huffington Post | by Ken Roseboro
Enogen, a genetically modified corn for ethanol production, has contaminated non-GMO white corn grown in Nebraska that is used to make flour for tortillas and other products.
Contaminated farmers’ corn
According to Derek Rovey, owner of Rovey Specialty Grains, Inland, Nebraska, a few of his contract farmers who grow non-GMO white corn had their crops contaminated by Enogen corn.
“We’ve had some growers who’ve had some problems (with Enogen). Their corn was right next to Enogen fields,” says Rovey.
Enogen’s GMO trait was detected in the white corn using GMO strip tests, says Rovey.
He also says that flour made using his company’s white corn tested positive for Enogen last summer.
Enogen GMO corn can contaminate food corn through cross pollination in the field or improper segregation during grain handling.
B.J. Katzberg, a corn seed dealer for Pioneer Hi-Bred, says one of his customer farmers had to abandon 25,000 bushels of corn due to Enogen contamination. He also knows of other farmers who’ve had Enogen contamination of their non-GMO white corn including one who had to remove 600 feet of his cornfield and sell it to an ethanol plant.