Food watchdog did not fail in its duty over GM rice

The Food Standards Agency has been cleared of allegations that it failed in its duty to protect consumers from products contaminated by illegally imported genetically modified rice.

Rejecting a claim by environmental campaigners Friends of the Earth, a judge in the High Court accepted the agency's defence that, although it failed to act promptly when the GM rice came to light, it then took immediate steps to remedy the situation.

The GM rice, a long-grain type known as "LL Rice 601", was illegally imported and distributed within the EU from at least January 2006. The US authorities notified the EU in August last year, and the EU Commission issued "Emergency Decisions" guidelines, requiring member states to deal with the contamination.

The case arose after FoE found that GM rice, grown in trials in the US, had entered the UK food chain. FoE complained that the FSA had not undertaken required testing in parts of the market and had not required enforcement action to be taken by local food authorities under EU food regulations.

Mr Justice Calvert-Smith said the FSA would have been well-advised to issue a "food alert" to distributors and retailers, but in this instance the product carried no risk of disease or illness. "In a perfect world, more would have been done more quickly," the judge said.

He added that FoE had not presented sufficient evidence to justify the granting of a court declaration that the FSA failed in its duty. "There must be a margin within which such an agency has to be allowed to make its own decisions, and to some extent its own mistakes, without legal sanction," the judge said.

Lawyers for FoE welcomed the judge's comments, and the FSA said it would "take them on board".