South America braces for EU biotech grain restrictions.(GRAINS)

The European Union's zero tolerance policy toward unauthorized transgenic grain imports poses a threat to South American corn and soybean suppliers, who provide ingredients used in European livestock feed (see FTR November, Page 1).

Last spring EU officials considered relaxing their zero tolerance policy in order to avert shortages of animal feed made from grain imported from the United States, Argentina, and Brazil. With that prospect in mind, those nations approved new biotech grain varieties for commercial cultivation.

However, recent EU backtracking on zero tolerance, coupled with the rejection of several grain shipments with low level presence of …