There has been, and continues to be, significant potential for disruption of the food supply chain as a result of StarLink. There have been millers that have had to shut down operations, in fact some small milling operations have gone out of business. Also, there have been temporary shutdowns of manufacturing operations and international recalls of entire product lines. However, this does not guarantee that DNA might not be detected in finished products. Accurate and reliable standardized and validated DNA testing methods are not currently available, nor is there sufficient capacity in the system were such tests to become available to reliably test the thousands of corn-containing products on the market.
Current methodology has a high rate of false positives and false negatives.
Additionally, tests must be customized for each product category since matrix effects are significant. Detection of DNA does not necessarily mean that Cry9C protein is even present, since DNA methods can amplify a single copy of a gene to detectable levels. EPA has repeatedly stated that consumption of DNA is not a safety issue. But currently, detection of DNA is grounds for FDA class II recall of products. Testing processed foods for the very small amount of 1999 StarLink DNA left in the food supply chain will significantly increase the cost of food with no increase in food safety or health benefit for consumers.