Lebanon has introduced stricter tests for wheat imports following the discovery of a carcinogen in wheat samples earlier this year which the Public Health Ministry said on Wednesday could increase unloading times at ports. The measures, effective immediately, include new tests for ships and storage facilities, to be managed by a new cross-ministerial co-ordination committee, and tests to wheat deep inside importing ships' storage areas.
Any ships whose cargoes do not conform will be turned away from Lebanon, Joyce Haddad, general co-ordinator of the Ministry of Public Health's food safety campaign, told Reuters. The discovery of the carcinogen caused months of doubt about food safety in Lebanon and disputes between individual government ministries, forcing the ministries of health, economy and agriculture to join forces and introduce the new monitoring regime.
"It will increase costs and discourage people to offer," a Middle East-based trade source who sells to private traders in Lebanon said of the new testing regime. Wheat must now be stored in Lebanon in line with international storage standard ISO 6322, 2013, Haddad said, referring to international guidelines governing the storage of cereals. She said new specifications about wheat transportation and pest monitoring had also been introduced.
Tests in February conducted by the public health ministry showed unacceptable levels of a carcinogenic substance, ochratoxin, in stored imported wheat. That wheat was initially believed to be from Russia, but the ministry later said it had been misidentified as Russian, without saying where it was from. The economy and trade ministry then said its own tests showed no problems with Lebanon's imported wheat. This prompted the public health ministry to refer the issue in March to the public prosecutor's office.
In April, one of 15 wheat import samples tested under the supervision of the public prosecutor at the port of Beirut was found to contain a higher-than-permitted level of ochratoxin, Haddad said. "The samples also contained a high amount of fungi and yeast because of their storage in warehouses where the humidity is above permitted levels," Public Health Minister Wael Abu Faour said on Tuesday when announcing the new measures. In early July, Abu Faour closed down 21 wheat and bulgur wheat mills for not meeting public health standards.