The Ministry of Agriculture announced on Tuesday that it is investigating Heinz's Baby Rice Cereal for possible contamination by illegal genetically engineered (GE) rice.

Greenpeace, the international environment protection organization, disclosed on Tuesday that non-approved GE rice had been detected in Heinz's Baby Rice Cereal, and pushed for an immediate recall of all contaminated products.

It also asked the Chinese government to control the spread of GE rice along the food chain.

In 2000, Mexican scientists found that the Bt protein (Cry1Ac), which is found in GE rice, induced allergic responses in lab mice.

The ministry said if reports are true, it will deal with the matter in accordance with the law.

"The supervision of GM biology is an important issue, and GE products must be approved by the ministry before they are sold."

According to the ministry, the government has not approved any kind of GE rice.

The test results that Greenpeace referred to were produced by GeneScan, an independent German laboratory, which tested 19 food samples that Greenpeace had collected from supermarkets in Beijing.

Heinz Baby Rice Cereal was the only product found to contain Bt rice.

(Xinhua News Agency March 15, 2006)