Unapproved GMO rice varieties frequently contaminate conventional rice

Rice provides up to 80% of daily caloric intake for nearly half the global population, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, with much of its production and consumption taking place in China and India.

While GMOs aren’t currently present in commercial rice production, the presence of experimental or unauthorized GMO rice in non-GMO products is quite common—rice accounts for as much as a third of all recorded GMO contamination events.

According to the GM Contamination Register, a global database that tracks GMO contamination incidents in non-GMO crops, rice accounts for about one-third of all recorded GMO contamination events—more than any other crop.

GMO contamination has serious implications, especially for small farms in developing economies that rely on rice production for their livelihoods.

Golden Rice, developed as a genetically modified crop to combat Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD), illustrates the contradiction present in the history of GMO rice: no commercial cultivation, yet widespread contamination and controversy. While Golden Rice was approved for cultivation in the Philippines between 2021 and 2024, that approval was revoked due to safety concerns.

India recently made headlines by becoming the first country to approve two gene-edited rice varieties developed using CRISPR technology. One variety was designed for high performance in saline and alkaline soils, while the other was engineered for climate resilience, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, decreased water use, and increased yield.

Farmers’ rights group Coalition for a GM-Free India called for the immediate withdrawal of the two gene-edited rice varieties, citing concern for humans’ health and environmental well-being, among other objections, and GM Watch pointed out that indigenous rice varieties already meet high productivity standards.

Here are several other examples of GMO rice research:

• In 2023, researchers in China reported the second harvest of an experimental GMO rice that’s resistant to pests and floods.
• China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs granted a safety certificate to a different gene-edited rice variety as a part of a broader GMO initiative to boost yields and food security.
• Researchers at Japan’s National Agriculture and Food Research Organization are developing a variety of gene-edited rice to alleviate hay fever.
• Italy launched a field trial in 2024 of a gene-edited Arborio rice developed for resistance to the fungal pathogen called rice blast. No data was collected from the experiment because the crops were destroyed by vandals within months of planting.

Source: The Non-GMO Project

Organic & Non-GMO Insights October 2025