Last Friday, U.S. Federal officials announced that a long-grain rice sample tested positive for a genetically modified strain that had not yet been approved for consumption. The modified genes from the strain in question were developed to resist a specific herbicide. Since two other strains that have been approved for consumption contain the exact same GM genes, the unapproved strain does not pose a health hazard.

Although the rice is safe for consumption, it is still raising a lot of questions. The main one, of course, is how the contamination occurred in the first place. The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture did not know where the strain came from or even how much conventional rice could be affected.