The Department of Agriculture has impounded 7,000 tonnes of US animal feed at Dublin port, which has been found to contain illegal GM maize, Herculex Rw.
It is also seeking to recover the remainder of the cargo, which was sampled by Greenpeace in Rotterdam and found to contain GM material not authorised in the EU, though legal in the US.
The Irish portion of the cargo - 6,000 tonnes of corn gluten feed and 6,200 tonnes of distillers' dried grain - was discharged at Dublin port on April 2nd from the MV Pakrac, which sailed from New Orleans. The ship then went on to Rotterdam, where it discharged the remainder of the animal feed cargo.
The cargo of animal feed landed here was certified as not containing GM Herculex Rw maize product, according to the department's statement yesterday.
"However, information was received on May 7th from the Dutch authorities that official samples taken by them had tested positive," it said.
"The department immediately arranged for samples to be taken from the animal feed offloaded at Dublin port and sent to the State laboratory for analysis. The laboratory informed the department on May 15th that the samples submitted had tested positive for Herculex Rw," it said.
"When the department received the information on positive results from the Dutch authorities, they immediately put in place a restriction order on the 7,000 tonnes that still remained in portal stores," it added. "In the meantime, steps have been taken to take out of circulation material that had left the portal stores.
"While some of the material has already been incorporated into the animal feed chain, it is unlikely, based on the European Food Safety Authority evaluation, to have any adverse effects on human or animal health or the environment," it added.
"In accordance with requirements under EU legislation, the department will ensure that none of the material currently under restriction will enter the food chain," it said.
The issue of misleading certification is to be taken up at EU level by Ireland and the Netherlands and the US authorities will be asked to explain what happened.
Greenpeace International and the GM Free Ireland network, which exposed the importation, had called for a ban on maize imports into the EU because of the breach of regulations.