BASF is anxiously waiting for its final exams on Clearfield wheat to be marked, hoping it can graduate from the test plot to farmers’ fields.
The company has officially submitted its non-genetically modified imidazalinone-tolerant wheat to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Health Canada for approval.
To be approved for human and animal consumption and for release into the environment, it has to be approved by both the feed and biosafety sections of the CFIA, as well as the novel foods section of Health Canada.
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CFIA will not comment on how long the approval process is likely to take.
Clearfield wheat is being scrutinized more thoroughly than many new crop varieties because it is considered by federal regulators to be a “plant with novel traits.”
While some herbicide tolerant crops are the result of genetic engineering, Clearfield wheat was produced through the more traditional breeding process of mutagenesis.
The novel food process in Canada does not judge genetically modified or mutagenesis origins, but focuses on whether a new product is substantially different from existing ones, regardless of the means of creation.
The approvals BASF needs before it can release Clearfield wheat will be granted if regulators accept studies that show the crop to be safe for humans and animals to consume and safe to release into the natural environment.
