Friday September 22 4:11 PM ET

Kraft Recalls Taco Bell Shells with Biotech Corn

NORTHFIELD, Ill. (Reuters) - Philip Morris Cos.' (NYSE:MO - news) 
Kraft Foods unit said on  Friday it is voluntarily recalling all Taco 
Bell Home Originals taco shell products sold in U.S.  grocery stores 
nationwide.

Tests performed by an independent laboratory found, in certain 
samples, the presence of a variety  of corn that Kraft had not 
specified for the product and which is not approved by U.S. 
regulators  for use in food, Kraft said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) and the 
Environmental Protection  Agency said earlier this week they were 
jointly investigating allegations by an anti-biotech  coalition that 
a variety of gene-spliced corn that is not approved for human 
consumption had  slipped into Taco Bell shells sold in a Maryland 
grocery store.

Kraft said at this point there appears to be no evidence of adverse 
health effects from the corn  variety, known as StarLink.

The Bt corn variety was developed by Aventis SA (AVEP.PA) of 
Strasbourg, France. It was approved in the United States in 1998 for 
use only in animal feed because it contains a protein that  might be 
an allergen.

Bt corn is spliced with a naturally occurring plant pesticide known 
as bacillus thuringiensis.

The products being recalled are: Taco Bell Home Originals 12 Taco 
Shells, Taco Bell Home Originals 18 Taco Shells and Taco Bell Home 
Originals Taco Dinner containing 12 shells, sauce and seasoning.

Consumers who have purchased the products should not eat them, and 
should return the packages to the store where they were purchased for 
a full refund, Kraft said. More information is available in a special 
report at http://www.kraftfoods.com, or consumers may call 
1-800-433-9361 from 0800 to midnight EDT.

Kraft is licensed by Taco Bell to use the name on taco shells sold 
only in supermarkets. Kraft buys finished taco shells for the Taco 
Bell line  from Sabritas Mexicali, a subsidiary of PepsiCo Inc. 
(NYSE:PEP - news) in Mexicali, Mexico. Sabritas buys corn flour for 
the product from  Azteca Milling L.P., which processes the flour in 
its Plainview, Texas, mill, Kraft said.

The specifications for the corn Azteca purchased for the taco shells 
were confined to several varieties of conventional yellow corn and 
did not  include the StarLink corn, Kraft said.

Kraft said it is cooperating with FDA to determine how the StarLink 
corn became mixed with the product ingredients.

The company will discontinue production of the taco shells until it 
is assured the raw materials and finished products from the suppliers 
comply with regulatory requirements.