CHAINS PULL TACO SHELLS IN STARLINK BACKLASH

JON SPRINGER

Thirty-five national and regional supermarket companies last week pulled various taco shells and tortilla chips from their shelves in the wake of the StarLink corn controversy.

While retailers and the product's manufacturer stressed that the recall was voluntary, political fallout continued over what should be done when unapproved -- and potentially unsafe -- food reaches supermarket shelves.

Mission Foods, the Irving, Texas-based food company that manufactured the Kraft Foods' Taco Bell brand and Safeway private-label taco shells found to include the genetically altered StarLink corn, said it requested the recall of various private-label and Mission brand products from the additional 34 chains, which it considered a cautionary move. StarLink corn contains a bacterial toxin that kills insects. The product has been approved by the Environmental Protection Agency for animal feed but not for human consumption. The corn could cause allergic reactions and other health risks, sources said.

Among the retail chains affected by the recall were Albertson's, Boise, Idaho; Kroger, Cincinnati; Food Lion, Salisbury, N.C.; Stater Bros. Markets, Colton, Calif.; and Shaw's, West Bridgewater, Mass. The stores and Mission cautioned that the recalled products did not necessarily contain unapproved ingredients.

"We're not sure what's on their shelves, so we're taking what we feel is the most prudent approach and proceeding with a voluntary recall," Peter Pitts, a spokesman for Mission Foods, told SN last week. "We have to be either 100% sure our products are safe, or nothing."

In addition to recalling products, Mission has ceased all production of yellow corn products and will replace them with white corn, Pitts said.

Elsewhere, Omaha, Neb.-based ConAgra last week shut down its corn flour plant in Atchison, Kan., over concern it had received some altered corn. A spokeswoman for Minneapolis-based Cargill told SN it was testing its corn supply at its Illinois Cereal Mills plant, a major producer of corn flour for tortillas.

Jack Brown, president and chief executive officer of Stater Bros., told SN his chain pulled Mission brand taco shells from its shelves early last week and informed customers via store signage that the product had been recalled. Mission does not manufacture private-label taco shells for Stater, Brown said.

"There is no more important issue to the supermarket industry than the safety of the food we sell our customers," Brown said. "We're customers of our stores ourselves."

While Food Lion and Shaw's issued press releases about the recall, most chains preferred to handle the situation quietly. Albertson's, Boise, Idaho, said it removed four Mission-label taco shells and four other brands supplied by Mission from its shelves. The company is referring consumer questions to Mission Foods, a spokeswoman told SN.

Kroger removed a variety of store-brand and Mission brand products from its shelves and informed its customers by on-store signage, spokesman Gary Rhodes told SN. "We require all of our private-label suppliers to adhere to strict specifications in making products for us," Rhodes said. "When Mission told us they couldn't guarantee their products did not include StarLink corn, we altered our stores and removed the products from our shelves."

Saying that "retailers have to place confidence in their suppliers," Brown praised Mission for acting quickly. However, he added that retailers could help bring an end to such problems by lobbying for a single federal agency to oversee food safety issues.

"The FMI has been on the Hill for two years asking for one agency to handle this across the country," Brown said. "I think we have to continue to lobby Congress."

That was just one among numerous political avenues the taco-shell controversy has traveled in recent weeks. Opponents of genetically modified foods, who earlier this month kicked off the controversy by revealing that Kraft's taco shells included the StarLink corn, are calling for stringent testing and/or the removal of GMOs in supermarkets. Groups including the Grocery Manufacturers of America fired back saying that GMOs are thoroughly tested and that testing would not have prevented the StarLink from accidentally getting into the food supply.

Speculation on how the altered corn entered the food supply last week centered on Aventis Crop-Science, the French inventor of the StarLink product, and on Garst Seed, a Slater, Iowa-based distributor. Sources told SN they believed farmers were either not informed of, or ignored, planting and marketing restrictions associated with StarLink.

Aventis in late September said it had ceased the production of the StarLink seed. Garst in the meantime was reminding its customers about restrictions associated with marketing StarLink crops. Some farmer's groups, including the American Corn Growers Association, have raised questions about potential financial and legal impacts of growing GMOs. Aventis has said it would buy back StarLink corn from farmers, but according to reports, there is some confusion as to whether it would buy mixed strains.

Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director of supermarket consulting firm Reach Marketing, Westport, Conn., told SN that regulating how farmers choose to manage their yield "is virtually impossible to control," and added the controversy would likely result in steeper corn prices for more than a year.

"It's impossible for supermarkets to bear responsibility," Flickinger said. "But they will be among the ones affected."

Irwin Steinberg, executive director of the Dallas-based Tortilla Industry Association, told SN he was concerned the situation could affect public confidence in member companies' products, particularly when used as a political example.