The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Friday it has intensified inspections and quarantines on U.S. wheat as some genetically modified wheat was recently found at a farm in Oregon.
U.S. authorities said the genetically engineered wheat found in Oregon was of the type developed by Monsanto to be resistant to the herbicide Roundup. It added that the wheat was not harmful to public health, but was not approved for commercial use.
“We are investigating into not only U.S. wheat imports but also other imported agricultural goods,’’ the ministry said in a press release.
According to the ministry, Korea imported 1.20 million tons of wheat from Oregon state last year. The imported wheat is provided to nine flour companies, including CJ, Daehan Flour Mills, Korea Flour Mils. Samhwa Flour Mills, Daesun Flour Mills, Donga Won and Samyang Millmax.
The ministry is running tests on wheat from the U.S. and flour made using it to determine if it contains genetically modified wheat. The test results will come out by the middle of next week, the ministry added.
By Seo Jee-yeon (
jyseo@heraldcorp.com)
