This is a brand of genetically-engineered corn, developed by a company called CropScience. The corn, which was FDA approved only for use as animal feed, cross-pollinated with corn growing in other fields, and contaminated over 400,000,000 bushels of corn destined for the American food supply in late 1999. Since then, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has developed a blood test to determine if the reported reactions are caused by allergies to the special protein in the corn, called Starlink.
StarLink corn has officially been withdrawn from the market, but contaminated corn is suspected to have infiltrated the 2000 and 2001 seed crops, further increasing the risk of cross-pollination and nationwide dissemination of the offending protein.