The Korea Food and Drug Administration has decided to punish five companies for allegedly using banned Starlink corn to make edible corn starch.
The KFDA said that the starch was sold to local makers of products such as biscuits, noodles and alcohol.
Starlink... a processed, genetically modified corn... has raised health concerns. It is allowed only in animal feed and industrial products.
The five companies involved are Samyang Genex, Shin Dong Bang Corporation, Daesang and two separately operated plants owned by Doosan CPK.
The companies are accused of having sold to cooking oil makers, 34 tons of Starlink-sourced corn starch, as well as four thousand tons of corn embryo bud.
An official at the KFDA said the corn starch is not recoverable now. But he said processed foods made of the starch are not a threat to human health, because Starlink's active ingredient called... Cry-9C... is melted or removed during processing.