If the Canadian grain industry wants to set up an identity-preserved program for genetically modified crops, Len Seguin wants it to be aware of the pitfalls.
Canada’s chief grain inspector said the Canadian Grain Commission will pull together a working group to develop a program that would track grain from the farmer through to a cargo hold on a ship.
Inspectors have traditionally relied on being able to visually distinguish between types and grades of grain.
But transgenic varieties look exactly like other varieties. If exporters want to keep them separate because of some customers’ concerns about biotechnology, the industry needs to come up with a new system, Seguin said.
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Keeping grain separate in the complex bulk handling system has worked well for the malting barley and special crops industries, he said.
Meet customer needs
Special crop exporters work outside the Canadian grading system to make sure their customers get the exact specifications required.
But when the Canadian Wheat Board tried to keep Karma wheat separate in the handling system, what showed up in cargo holds was more like 75 percent Karma, and the rest other varieties.
To meet certain market requirements, the wheat board has also tried to keep low-protein soft white spring wheat segregated at the country elevator level.
“Time after time, on receipt at the terminal, the protein has been higher than it was at the country elevator system,” Seguin told a recent Canada Grains Council conference.
New tests might have to be developed if some importers decide on zero tolerance for transgenic crops.
With current methods, the commission would need to test 3,000 individual kernels to verify if a cargo of grain had less than half a percent of transgenic kernels. Seguin said it would take a month.
An identity-preserved program would also have to address the issues of accountability and liability. Exacting records would have to be kept.
Seguin called for all players in the chain to work together to get customers exactly what they want.
He recalled a farmer who bragged the grain commission didn’t catch the Grandin wheat he delivered into the bulk handling system.
“What troubled me is not that it didn’t see it … but it seemed to be a bit of a game to get it by the grain commission,” Seguin said.
