Venezuela's government has agreed to toughen inspection and certification of its cocoa bean shipments after the discovery last month of higher than permitted levels of pesticide residue in one cargo to Japan, a top agriculture official said Friday.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Hector Garzon said the government met this week with Japanese importers and buyers to agree to seven measures, including chemical inspections certified by Japanese authorities.
"They went away very happy with the measures and most of all convinced that the problem was not with the product," Garzon told Reuters in an interview.
"The product maintains its quality and its characteristics from proper agricultural practices. The problem came from the bags which they wash and prepare with a pesticide," he said.
Venezuelan authorities agreed to implement tests before shipments conducted through the Venezuelan export investigations office, which is certified by Japan.
Other measures included education and prevention programs for producers, farmers and exporters to safeguard against contamination.
"The system will be more complete using the methods demanded by the Japanese," Garzon said.
The new measures were adopted after quarantine officials at the Japanese port of Yokohama in July found that samples from a 50-tonne cargo of cocoa beans from Venezuela contained 0.82 ppm (parts per million) of the pesticide dichlorvos.
The concentration was 64 percent higher than the permitted level in Japan of 0.5 ppm.
It was the second Venezuelan cocoa cargo in a year to contain such high levels and the Japanese government ordered thorough testing of shipments from Venezuela.
Japan could ban imports of Venezuelan cocoa beans, a raw material for Japanese chocolate makers, if it found more cases of contamination. Japanese chocolate producers use West African cocoa as base beans and blend them with South American cocoa to add a distinct flavour.
Japan's Health ministry called for importers of Venezuelan cocoa to obtain certificates for pesticide levels from authorised Japanese inspection offices before customs.
A cargo of Venezuelan beans was sent back last year by Japan because it contained high levels of dichlorvos. But Venezuelan officials said the pesticide was not used in the bean cultivation, but for "domestic control" of pests.
Japan imported 2,962 tonnes of cocoa beans from Venezuela last year, 4.7 percent of total imports of 63,600 tonnes. Garzon said Venezuela expected cocoa exports to Japan to reach 3,500 tonnes this year and increase to 4,500 tonnes in 2005.