No bread crisis

Disputable wheat enters market, raises concerns on food safety standards

July 1, 2011- A cargo of 25,000 tons of defected US wheat was allowed into the market on Thursday, after the Minister of Agriculture had prevented the cargo from being unloaded over concerns of contamination.

“The traders managed to import the worst quality of wheat, but it was still identified within the minimum food safety standards,” Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan was quoted as saying. Hajj Hassan told Al Akhbar daily that the ministry had tested samples of the wheat cargo at laboratories in France and found that the wheat was within the minimum food safety standards. The minister said global wheat prices have dropped and that it is no longer justified for traders to import bad wheat.

Head of the Syndicate of Agri-food traders, General Director of Matahen Corporation, Arslan Sinno told As Safir daily that the Ministers of Agriculture and Economy issued a decision on Thursday evening allowing the wheat to be distributed to mills. Sinno called for more transparency in dealing with food safety matters. “The ministries of economy and agriculture should establish clear and firm terms for food safety standards in order to prevent such problems in the future,” he was quoted as saying.

Conflicting reports on the availability of wheat in the market emerged this week. Head of the Union of Bakeries Kazem Ibrahim said the minister’s decision to prevent the wheat cargo from being emptied caused an acute shortage in flour. He called on the economy and agriculture ministries to solve the problem and save the country from a bread crisis.
However, The Daily Star quoted a spokesman of the Agriculture Ministry as saying that there were abundant quantities of wheat and flour in the market. “The reports that a certain type of flour is missing in the market are unfounded. I think this uproar was caused by news that one of the ships carrying wheat at Beirut port did not unload its cargo yet because the laboratories of the ministry are still checking to see if this wheat meets our standards,” the official was quoted as saying.