Govt dilutes quality norms on wheat tender
The government has thrown food safety standards to the winds by significantly diluting the quality norms for the latest wheat import tender issued by the State Trading Corporation this week.
By Prabha Jagannathan, TNN |
NEW DELHI: The government has thrown food safety standards to the winds by significantly diluting the quality norms for the latest wheat import tender issued by the State Trading Corporation this week.
The dilution in quality standards flies in the face of the Centre’s own Plant Quarantine Order and apprehensions abound that this could infect domestic wheat including a possible second run of the parthenium weed trail.
The closing date for the tender, issued for the import of 2.2m tonnes of wheat, is June 20.
Among other significant relaxations, the STC’s prescribed quality standards for the June 12 tender have allowed the presence of an average 100 banned quarantine weed seeds per 200 kg of samples drawn from a single consignment.
Even the May tender for three million tonnes of wheat imports, despite relaxed quality standards, did not relax regulations on the count of these banned weeds. Consequently, a 100% ban on the 31 listed weeds — including ambrosia maritime, bromus secalinus, heliotropium amplexicaule, helianthus californicus, thesium australe and viola arvensis — was specified in that tender.
The fresh tender for the 2.2m tonnes of wheat has also doubled the presence of deoxynivalenol or DON toxin in the imported wheat to 2000 ppb from the earlier only 1000 ppb, thus paving the way for the easy import of poorer quality American and Australian wheat into the country.
Signficantly, although the STC tender details rules to be followed on phytosanitary standards and on sampling procedures, including furnishing of PSC, it conveniently leaves the door more than ajar on alternative sampling procedures that can be used by exporting countries.
Even fumigation stan-dards have been relaxed, allowing exporters to ei-ther resort to methyl bromide or to aluminium phosphide for a period of at least 21 days prior to arrival in India.
The dilution in quality standards flies in the face of the Centre’s own Plant Quarantine Order and apprehensions abound that this could infect domestic wheat including a possible second run of the parthenium weed trail.
The closing date for the tender, issued for the import of 2.2m tonnes of wheat, is June 20.
Among other significant relaxations, the STC’s prescribed quality standards for the June 12 tender have allowed the presence of an average 100 banned quarantine weed seeds per 200 kg of samples drawn from a single consignment.
Even the May tender for three million tonnes of wheat imports, despite relaxed quality standards, did not relax regulations on the count of these banned weeds. Consequently, a 100% ban on the 31 listed weeds — including ambrosia maritime, bromus secalinus, heliotropium amplexicaule, helianthus californicus, thesium australe and viola arvensis — was specified in that tender.
The fresh tender for the 2.2m tonnes of wheat has also doubled the presence of deoxynivalenol or DON toxin in the imported wheat to 2000 ppb from the earlier only 1000 ppb, thus paving the way for the easy import of poorer quality American and Australian wheat into the country.
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Signficantly, although the STC tender details rules to be followed on phytosanitary standards and on sampling procedures, including furnishing of PSC, it conveniently leaves the door more than ajar on alternative sampling procedures that can be used by exporting countries.
Even fumigation stan-dards have been relaxed, allowing exporters to ei-ther resort to methyl bromide or to aluminium phosphide for a period of at least 21 days prior to arrival in India.
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