Assessing non-genetically modified crops for GM contamination is
becoming as simple as a litmus test.
EnviroLogix, a company based in Maine, is already producing test kits
that can detect in five minutes whether a load of soybeans contains
Roundup Ready seeds.
Representative samples are taken from a load, crushed and put into
water where the protein is extracted. The EnviroLogix plastic QuickStix
tester is put in the liquid and a colour indicator tells whether the
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protein that gives Roundup tolerance is present.
Snobelen Farms in Lucknow, Ont., distributes the QuickStix tester in
Canada and uses it in its identity preserved soybean program.
“All of our beans go over to Europe, so all of ours are non-GMO,” said
Snobelen spokesperson Shelley Blocka.
The QuickStix tester allows Snobelen to provide its European customers
with confirmation of GM-free status.
“What they want is the traceability, to know where the beans came from
and to make sure there is no possibility of contamination.”
Beans are tested before they go into storage and are tested again at
port before being loaded onto a ship, she said.
The company’s buyers pay a $1 per bushel premium for non-GM soybeans,
she said.
Patty Heibel, EnviroLogix product manager, said the company has a
licence from Monsanto to develop the GM tests and has products on the
market for Roundup Ready soybeans and corn, and Bt corn.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has certified the Roundup Ready test
as meeting performance claims of detecting one Roundup Ready soybean in
a 1,000 soybean sample within five minutes.
The company has done some work on tests for Roundup Ready and Liberty
Link canola, but has not given it a priority because it got the
impression there wasn’t a strong market demand for non-GM canola.
To perfect the test for canola, EnviroLogix would have to come up with
the right formula and process and get the process validated by
independent labs and Monsanto.
“So hopefully there will be a good need for it when it comes out.”
She said there is a chicken and egg aspect to the issue: will the
market demand the test or will the test create a market?
“We are still trying to define the market. If there was this tool,
would people use it? Of course, it means being able to build some sort
of way to segregate.”
