Tesco Ireland has withdrawn some of their own brand American long grain rice products as a precautionary measure following the withdrawal of two products in the UK that allegedly contained unauthorised genetically modified (GMO) rice.
A spokesman for Tesco Ireland last night indicated that any American long grain rice to be packed for Tesco in future is to be tested and verified as GM-free.
"Whilst this is not a food safety issue we of course take it very seriously. We are working with our suppliers and the relevant authorities and as a precaution we've withdrawn previous stock of Tesco American long grain rice in 500g and 1kg packs," he siad.
Currently, it is forbidden to grow, sell or market any gene-altered rice in the European Union as research continues into whether unauthorised biotech varieties pose any risk to people's health.
The withdrawal of the Tesco products follows claims by the UK-based environmental group, Friends of the Earth, that the GMO strain had been found in two samples of rice in the supermarket group, Morrisons.
This followed the organisation's submission of a number of rice samples for testing after reports in the US that long grain rice had been contaminated by a type of GM rice - Bayer CropScience's LLRICE 601 - grown in experimental trials in August.
The EU reported last week that traces of LL601 had been found in 33 out of 162 samples tested by the European rice industry.