Page 14—Corn Talk, Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, October 14, 2000
Grains Council , National Corn Growers
Association Respond To Corn Concerns In Japan
ST. LOUIS, Mo. Re
sponding to the possible ero
sion of the U.S. corn export
market in Japan, the U.S.
Grains Council (USGC) and
the National Corn Growers
Association (NCGA) quickly
launched a mission on Sept.
24 to address the concerns of
the largest single customer of
U.S. corn.
Japan usually imports
more than 600 million bush
els of U.S. corn annually.
“A tough, new law goes
into effect in Japan on April
1, 2001, that sets a zero toler
ance for the import of unap
proved agricultural
products,” explained Ken
Hobbie, president and CEO
of the USGC, and the senior
member of the U.S. team.
“Under the new law, import
ers can face severe fines and
prison terms for importing
unapproved varieties of corn
into Japan.
“The Star Link taco shell
incident sent a shock through
the Japanese corn import in
dustry and raised concern
about U.S. ability to comply
with the new law.”
Star Link is currently not
approved in Japan, and is
also the only commercially
produced variety of U.S. corn
that is not yet approved
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there. Approval in Japan,
while independent of ap
proval in the United States,
has been held up pending fur
ther data from the life science
company. Under the new
law, importers can face
severe fines and prison terms
for importing unapproved
hybrids of corn into Japan.
The taco shell incident to
which Hobbie referred was
the announcement on Sept.
23 that Star Link hybrids,
containing a type of Bacillus
thuringiensis (Bt) bacterium
that controls European corn
borer, was reportedly found
in Kraft Taco Bell taco shells
in grocery stores. Star Link
hybrids are the only Bt hy
brids not yet approved in
Japan. Approval in Japan,
while independent of ap
proval in the U.S. has been
awaiting food use approval in
the U.S. Kraft voluntarily re
called the taco shells and
Aventis, maker of Star Link
Bt, has withdrawn the hy
brids from the market, pend
ing final approval.
A high-level govern
ment/industry tag team rep
resenting U.S. corn growers
responded to the Japanese
concerns. In addition to
Hobbie, the mission included
Rick Tolman, executive vice
president and CEO of
NCGA; Isi Siddiqui, special
assistant for trade to U.S.
Secretary of Agriculture Dan
Glickman; and Bernice Slut
sky, science adviser in the
USDA’s Foreign Ag Service.
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“The Japanese received us
warmly because our presence
demonstrated a swift and ag
gressive response to their
concerns,” said Tolman.
“We didn’t have all of the an
swers, but we provided
enough information and
specifics on how we are re
sponding to the problem to
help restore confidence in our
ability to meet the pending
market realities. Also, it reaf
firmed our strong commit
ment to Japan.”
The U.S. representative
spent two days in intense
meetings with Japanese gov
ernment and industry offi
cials detailing plans to
channel Star Link into ap
proved markets in the U.S.
and keep it out of shipments
to Japan. Discussions also
focused on ways to avoid sim
ilar incidents.
The team met with the
Japan Ministry of Health and
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Welfare (MHW); Zennoh
(the largest co-op in Japan
and single largest grain im
porter); Japan Ministry of
Agriculture Forestry and
Fisheries (MAFF); Japan
Starch and Sweetner Indus
try; Japan Oilseed Processors
Industry (corn oil); Japan
Brewery Association; Japan
Corn Foods Association;
Japan Feed Trade Associa
tion; Japan Feed Manufac
turers Association; and the
local trade press.
“We were able to speak
with nearly all, if not all, of
the key groups that either
regulate corn imports or
import and use corn,” said
Hobbie. “Our meeting were
valuable in restoring confi
dence in the U.S. corn
supply. However, we will still
need to continue to pay very
close attention to the needs of
our Japanese customers.”
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