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Imported
rice in Australia: pesticides and chemicals found to be above safe standards
An SBS
investigation has revealed some imported rice available in Australia’s
mainstream supermarkets and South Asian shops contain pesticides and fungicides
at levels that breach Australian food standards.
English
BySBS Punjabi
Source:SBS Punjabi
24 NOV 2016 - 12:33 PM UPDATED YESTERDAY 12:33 PM
Two out of four samples of rice tested by SBS fail to comply with
Australian regulations. Imported from Pakistan and from India, these basmati
rice samples were found to be in breach of levels accepted by Food
Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ).
Thetests commissioned by SBSwere carried out by Australia’s National Measurement
Institute, a food-testing lab accredited by the National Association of Testing
Authorities.
Exclusive: SBS Testing reveals worrying levels of
chemicals in foods available for sale in Australia
Worrying and in some cases illegal levels of heavy
metals, carcinogenic insecticide and arsenic has been found in multiple foods
being imported into Australia as revealed by independent testing commissioned
by SBS Punjabi Radio as part of a special investigation into the safety of
Australia’s food import industry.
SBS
journalists chose samples produced in different nations to explore if the
country of origin made a difference in the quality of the product. The samples
were bought in Australia but only one was produced in this country; the other
three came from Pakistan, India and Thailand.
The SBS
investigation discovered the Indian produced Kohinoor Basmati rice contained
Buprofezin, an insecticide that is not permitted in rice in Australia.
It also
revealed that Pakistani produced Indus Basmati Rice contained Chlorpyrifos. Its
presence in rice constitutes an apparent breach of the Australian and New
Zealand food code.
Chemicals in rice samples commissioned by SBS
The Kohinoor Basmati rice bought in Melbourne contained
0.014 milligrams of the insecticide Buprofezin per kilogram.
Kohinoor Basmati Rice
Monash University Professor Brian Priestly says the sample
tested of this rice fails the test, because there is no prescribed Maximum
Residue Limit (MRL) for Buprofezin in the Australian food standards. He says if
an MRL is not set for a particular pesticide or chemical for a product, it
should not be detectable in that product.
However, this doesn’t imply that “there would be a health
effect from consuming the product”, explained Dr. Priestly.
The MRLs are generally set to limit exposure to
contaminants and are not necessarily set as health-based limits. Checks
are made to ensure that if a food is consumed according to normal dietary
patterns over a lifetime, the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI for pesticides) or
Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI for other contaminants) is not exceeded.
Dr. Priestly explains that the MRL for a pesticide is set
on the basis of Good Agricultural Practice (GAP), which means that the MRL is a
residue level that should not be any higher when the pesticide is used in
accordance with regulatory restrictions and label instructions.
What
does it mean to exceed an MRL?
Exceeding an MRL indicates improper use. MRLs are
generally only set for foods where use of the pesticide is permitted. This
means that you will not find MRLs in Australian regulations where use of that
particular pesticide on relevant food crops is not permitted.
However, there may be MRLs set by the international Codex
process, that allows for MRLs to be set where there are permitted uses in other
countries in order to facilitate international trade.
SBS consulted the Australian importer of Kohinoor Basmati
rice, Aarkay International, but they declined comment on the high levels of
insecticide found. It says it only pays to test its products when
Australia's authority asks it to do so.
After the publication of a related story on Food Imports
the “All India Rice Exporters Association” sent a written statement to SBS
saying that it’s their understanding that “Buprofezin” is allowed for use in
Australia claiming and that the “lack of specified MRL in a product does not
means it is pro-actively banned”.
Since much of the South Asian community considers rice
and wheat as staples, what effect could regular consumption of the products
have?
RMIT University health-science professor Marc Cohen, a
registered medical practitioner, says it is difficult to predict, even if
they are consumed in the low doses regarded as acceptable by Food
Standards.
Cohen says this is a problem for toxic-chemical regulation
worldwide because it doesn't take into account the effects where very small
doses can have a large effect because they disrupt the endocrine system.
"It's not just a linear curve that, lower the dose,
lesser the effect," Cohen explains. "You can have two chemicals
which, on their own, do nothing, there's no observable effect, but, when you
put them together in a body, they do have an effect, because they have a
synergistic, or cocktail, effect."
One other test result that has raised concern is Indus
Basmati rice, a product of Pakistan purchased from a well-known Australian
supermarket.
Indus Basmati rice
EXCLUSIVE: Australian supermarkets revealed to be selling
dangerous or banned foods
Australians consume diverse food items, mostly imported
from overseas. But, are we sure these foods are safe? How is Australia
controlling their quality?
The lab tests reveal it contained traces of the
insecticide Chlorpyrifos, which is not allowed in Australia according to the
Department of Health and Human Services of Victoria.Melbourne-based, land-use
researcher Anthony Amis argues Australia should have zero tolerance for substances
like Chlorpyrifos because, “it impacts on the nervous system.""Essentially
how it works is that it kills the insects by essentially frying their nervous
system," says Amis, a researcher with Friends of the Earth, has
studied chemical contamination in food for over 10 years."The problem with
that is that the same mechanism in the insects is exactly how it works with
humans."
To understand how these imported rices are available in
Australia, SBS journalists investigated the importation process works.
In Australia, authorities test only those five per cent
identified as so-called "surveillance" foods.The two (out of four)
rice samples tested by SBS were among the 95 per cent that were not tested.This
leaves the question, had they been tested, would they have made it to the
supermarket shelves, where they are still available?
With the volume of international trade increasing, and
greater emphasis on simplifying business procedures, even importers agree fewer
food samples seem to be tested these days.Harjinder Singh owns a retail grocery
business in Dandenong, in south-east Melbourne. He says, out of every hundred
products imported, only the rare one is sent for testing.The Department of
Agriculture and Water Resources, reached by SBS, says food businesses importing
food are subject to the requirements of the relevant state or territory
government.The department says where concerns around the integrity of a
particular food business are identified, they are investigated and appropriate
action is taken.SBS asked the Department of Health and Human Services of
Victoria if they were considering recalling the products identified by SBS
investigation or increasing the tests for these foods in future imports, but
they declined to comment
Basmati
rice stocks gain; Kohinoor Foods, LT Foods up over 5%
Kohinoor Foods up 20%
at Rs 54.35, while LT Foods surge 12% to Rs 280 on BSE in intra-day trade
SI Reporter | Mumbai November 24, 2016 Last
Updated at 14:16 IST
LT Foods rallies on acquisition of 817 Elephant
rice brandLand routes opened for basmati exports to Bangladesh, NepalMalaysian
partner to pick up stake in NHC FoodsHeritage Foods hits record high; stock
zooms over 70% in two monthsGI Registry holds meeting to decide on GI tag for
Basmati rice from Madhya PradeshShares of basmati rice exporters have rallied
by up to 20% in intra-day trade on BSE in otherwise weak market.KRBL, LT Foods
and Kohinoor Foods were trading higher between 4% and 20% on the Bombay Stock
Exchange (BSE), as compared to 0.72% decline in the S&P BSE Sensex at 01:44
pm.Kohinoor Foods is locked in upper circuit of 20% at Rs 54.35 on BSE with
only buyers were seen on the counter.
A
combined 887,342 shares changed hands and there were pending orders for 171,920
shares on the BSE and NSE.LT Foods, the company engaged in the manufacture and
sale of rice under the brand DAAWAT, has rallied 12% to Rs 280 on BSE in
intra-day after the company said it has entered into Joint Venture (JV) with
KAMED SEIKA of Japan to manufacture and market rice based snacks in India.The
said JV will start manufacturing the snack range in Sonepat later in the
financial year 2017-18, it added.KRBL was up 5% to Rs 274 on BSE in intra-day
on back of heavy volumes. A combined 275,905 shares changed hands so far
against an averages sub 50,000 shares that were traded daily in past two weeks
on BSE and NSE
