London, Sept 17 - British chain Morrison Supermarkets said on Sunday it had withdrawn two rice products after an environmental group said they contained unauthorised genetically modified (GMO) rice.
Environmental group Friends of the Earth said in a statement the GMO strain had been found in two samples of rice from Morrisons stores. At present it is forbidden to grow, sell or market any biotech rice in the European Union's 25 countries.
"The discovery of GMO-contaminated rice on supermarket shelves is extremely worrying," Helen Holder, from Friends of the Earth Europe, said in Brussels.
"GM rice is illegal, it has not even been properly investigated and there is no guarantee that it is safe for human consumption," she said.
Morrisons said it had taken the products off its shelves.
"Based of the information received about tests carried out by Friends of the Earth we have withdrawn the two products implicated," a spokeswoman said.
Friends of the Earth named the affected products as Morrisons American Long Grain Rice 500g, with a best before date of May 2008, and Morrisons American Long Grain Brown Rice 1kg, with a best before date of July 2008.
The European Commission confirmed on Monday the presence of unauthorised LL601 rice strain in 33 samples carried out by the industry although it did not specify that any had been found in Morrisons' products.
A spokeswoman for Friends of the Earth said it was not clear yet if the GMO rice found in Britain was of that type.
Friends of the Earth said it sent a number of samples to be tested after the European Commission decided in August to tighten requirements on U.S. long-grain rice.
France and Sweden have also detected the presence of GMO rice, a European Union diplomat said on Tuesday. Three bargeloads of U.S. rice have tested positive in Rotterdam.