On 26 March 2014, MAFF announced the results of an investigation of spilled grains associated with ports importing feed maize, portside discharge silos and the transport of maize in the surroundings of feed factories. The investigation was one part of a biodiversity impact assessment study carried out between May and September 2013. Up till now, MAFF has conducted surveys only on rapeseed and soy, and this is the first study on GM maize volunteers.

Spilled grain was confirmed at three of the six discharge silo facilities and three of the ten feed factories surveyed. In areas surrounding ports, spilled grains were confirmed at four ports (Kashima, Nagoya, Yatsushiro, and Taniyama) of the seven ports surveyed (Kushiro Port, Hokkaido; Kashima Port, Ibaraki Prefecture; Nagoya Port, Aichi Prefecture; Mizushima Port, Okayama Prefecture; Sakaide Port, Kagawa Prefecture; Yatsushiro Port, Kumamoto Prefecture; and Taniyama Port, Kagoshima Prefecture). Along the transport routes from the port to feed factories, spilled grain was confirmed at one location in the vicinity of a feed factory and in the surroundings of four road intersections. Almost all instances concerned spilled grain, but plant volunteers were discovered actually growing at one location in Yatsushiro Port.

On 10 March 2014, the Food Safety Commission assessed as gsafe for human consumption as foodh the 2,4-D and glufosinate (the main ingredient of Basta) herbicide-tolerant soybean submitted for approval by the Dow Chemical Company and initiated a call for opinions from the general public. 2,4-D is the herbicide used as the gAgent Orangeh defoliant during the Vietnam War, and because of this it has been impossible to approve this soybean in the US due to large numbers of opposing opinions.