China investigating Heinz Baby Cereal
(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-15 14:08

China's government said Wednesday it is investigating a claim that baby cereal made by H.J. Heinz Co. improperly contained genetically modified rice, but the company denied using any such crops.

The environmental group Greenpeace said this week that laboratory tests found genetically modified rice in Heinz Baby Rice Cereal bought in Beijing supermarkets.

The Agriculture Ministry said it was looking into the claim. In a statement carried by the official Xinhua News Agency, the ministry said it hasn't approved any genetically modified rice for human consumption.

"China has attached great importance to the supervision of the safety of GE biology and any such products sold should be approved by the ministry," the ministry said, according to Xinhua.

Pittsburgh-based Heinz denied that its baby food products contained any genetically modified organisms, or GMO.

"Heinz denies any GMO problem with its infant cereal products in China," the company said in a statement. "Heinz China confirms that all recent and past tests by independent international laboratories have not detected the presence of GMO in our baby food products."