The USDA released a statement before weekend start on Friday announcing an update o the discovery of modified wheat found growing in the wilds of eastern Oregon in May of this year.

The agriculture Department said that the wheat found there is an isolated incident and that they do not believe that it has spread from its current location at a farm in eastern Oregon. The USDA stated that the presence of the modified wheat found there presents no danger to the public and is not a food safety concern.

Although testing occurred in Oregon, there is no evidence that the location where the wheat was found was ever used as a test site by Monsanto. There were over 100 field tests of the modified wheat. Monsanto’s tests were performed in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming.

The wheat was found by farm workers as they sprayed Round-up on theat section of the field to kill off everything in preparation to let the ground lay fallow. When sprayed, a section of the field containing growing wheat refused to die.

Samples of the wheat was gathered up and sent to Oregon State University for testing. That tests came back positive as a strain that was created and tested by Monsanto over a decade ago.

Samples were forwarded to the USDA, they confirmed that it was in fact a modified Monsanto strain. On June 13, 2013, USDA validated an event-specific PCR (DNA-based) method for detecting MON71800 (provided by Monsanto to USDA on May 23, 2013). The USDA validation process included a specificity study and a sensitivity study. USDA determined that the method can reliably detect MON71800 when it is present at a frequency of 1 in 200 kernels. Additionally, USDA has provided this validated DNA test method to detect this specific GE variety to our trading partners that have requested it.

Major markets, such as Japan, Korea and Taiwan, have postponed imports of U.S. white wheat as they continue to study information from U.S. officials to determine what, if any, future action may be required. USDA officials will continue to provide information as quickly as possible as the investigation continues – with a top priority on giving our trading partners the tools they need to ensure science-based trade decisions.

The strain was never approved by the USDA for use.

Although the United States already has strains of genetically modified crops of corn and soy growing. Those crops are generally used for livestock feed and not for human consumption. Farmers have resisted growing modified wheat in their fields. This because most wheat is consumed directly by humans.

Monsanto also stated that the strain is safe for human consumption and that the appearance of the strain on the Oregon farm is an isolated case and hint that the wheat found there was a an act of sabatoge.