You know those pictures you've seen on TV of the third world aid workers in trucks loaded with bags of rice carefully handing them out to the starving masses?  Well, now you can see a similar picture right here in the US!  Today Wal-Mart announced that sales of rice at Sam's Clubs will be limited to four bags at a time.  While this rationing is not being extended to Wal-Mart stores at this time, it is telling that the world's largest and most powerful retailer cannot get an adequate supply of rice to meet the needs of its shoppers. 

However, we are not to be concerned about this according to Tim Johnson, president and chief executive of California Rice Commission, "Bottom line, there is no rice shortage in the United States. We have supplies." 

But what exactly is in those supplies?  Well, according to US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns just yesterday, the U.S. commercial supplies of long-grain rice have become inadvertently contaminated with a genetically engineered variety not approved for human consumption.  How could this happen? 

Johanns said Bayer (yes, the aspirin people also have a thriving business developing GMO seed varieties) had not finished the process of getting LLRICE 601 approved for marketing but that the company did complete the process for two other varieties of rice with the same gene and their approval offers reassurance that 601 is probably safe, too.  Well, now I feel better.

If I were Mr. Johnson, the rice guy, I would be worried.  It seems that although the protein conferring herbicide tolerance "is well known to regulators and has been confirmed safe for food and feed use in a number of crops by regulators in many countries, including the EU, Japan, Mexico, U.S. and Canada," according to Johanns, this discovery could have a significant impact on US rice sales and especially exports.  According to the Washington Post, many U.S. trading partners have strict policies forbidding importation of certain genetically engineered foods, even if they are approved in the United States.  Apparently our heavily corporate influenced country has lower standards for what we feed our people than other countries do. 

And, if you think you are going to avoid the GMO rice by buying imported rice, think again.  Trade bans have been put in place in countries like India and Viet Nam to try and stabilize their domestic rice prices so it is unlikely that we will be seeing any of their rice in the near future.