Europe’s new trade ban on imports of US corn gluten feed and distillers’ grains is likely to be short-lived, after the development of a new test for the unapproved GM maize variety, Bt10.

The de facto ban came into force this week, with the EU Commission requiring all imports of the two feed ingredients from the USA to be certified as “Bt10-free”. This followed the revelation that several hundred tonnes of the unapproved Bt10 seed has been accidentally sold to US farmers over the past four years and some of this was then exported to the EU.

“This [certification] is a targeted measure, necessary to uphold EU law, maintain consumer confidence and ensure that the unauthorised Bt10 cannot enter the EU,” said food safety commissioner Markos Kyprianou. “We cannot allow a GMO which has not been through our rigorous authorisation procedures to enter the EU market.”

Green lobby group Friends of the Earth was quick to applaud the move, suggesting that, with no reliable test, it would result in a de facto ban on imports of US maize-based animal feeds.

But Syngenta, the biotech company behind the GM maize, has since confirmed it has developed a new test able to detect the smallest traces of Bt10 in bulk animal feed. “We have shared this information with Brussels and it could be put in place at US ports within a few days,” said company spokesman Markus Payer. “The impact on trade should be minimal,” he added.