The StarLink Case: Issues for the Future
Michael R. Taylor and Jody S. Tick
Abstract
The disclosure in September 2000 that StarLink corn had been found in the human food supply put
food biotechnology in the public spotlight and caused concern among consumers and food system
stakeholders alike that a product approved only for animal use could find its way to grocery shelves. The
StarLink experience raises a number of issues that deserve study concerning the current regulatory system
and public policies affecting genetically modified foods. The issues include how to manage allergenicity
issues posed by biotech foods at the approval stage. Most of the issues, however, involve post-approval
control of staple food crops that have been genetically modified. It may be increasingly important in the
future to maintain the identity of genetically modified crops and segregate them from conventional ones,
yet neither the grain trading system nor the government regulatory system were designed to ensure this.
This paper is the first step in a case study that Resources for the Future is conducting for the Pew
Initiative on Food and Biotechnology to identify and analyze the regulatory and public policy issues
raised by the StarLink episode. In this paper, we pose questions concerning the adequacy of curent legal
authority, regulatory procedures, and institutional arrangements for post-approval control of biotech foods
that we intend to analyze in depth during the balance of the study based on interviews and other research.
We welcome comment on this paper and the planned study.
Key Words: agricultural biotechnology, food allergens, food regulation, food safety,
genetically modified food, grain trading system, StarLink corn.
