The Australian Wheat Board
(AWB) today welcomed the results of independent quality
testing of Australian wheat from shipments which were rejected
by the Pakistani Government in February this year, which
showed no presence of Karnal Bunt.
The tests,
funded by the Australian Government, were carried out by
Central Science Laboratory
(CSL), an agency of the United Kingdom’s Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which is the UK’s
foremost public sector laboratory in the fields of
agriculture, food and the environment.
AWB’s
Managing Director Andrew Lindberg welcomed the test results
and said it validated the industry’s position that Karnal Bunt
is not present in Australian wheat.
“Samples
were taken under Pakistani Government supervision from all
four rejected ships, and CSL found no evidence of Karnal Bunt
in any of the samples analysed,” said Mr Lindberg.
“AWB is
pleased with the test results as they reaffirm Australia’s
reputation as a supplier of high quality clean, white wheat,
and vindicates our position regarding the quality of
Australian wheat during the recent events in Pakistan.
“The
results also validate the testing conducted in Australia prior
to the wheat leaving for Pakistan,” said Mr Lindberg.
CSL was
selected because it currently has 88 procedures within the
Food Safety & Quality, Microbiology and Pesticides Veterinary
Medicine Groups accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard by
the United Kingdom Accreditation Service and is a
world-renowned expert laboratory in testing for Karnal Bunt.
In
addition, the Australian Department of Fisheries Forestry and
Agricultural has independently tested over 100 samples of
current seasons grain from throughout Australia’s entire wheat
belt and the results identified no presence of Karnal Bunt.
Source: Daily Times, 4
Jun 2004 [edited] via
ProMED-mail post
Britain's Central Science Laboratory finds no sign of Karnal
bunt disease in the recent shipment of
Australian wheat to Pakistan
Independent laboratory
tests in Britain have proven that Pakistan wrongly rejected a
major shipment of Australian wheat earlier in 2004, alleging
that it was infected, said grain exporter AWB Ltd on Monday,
reports AFP.
The Australian monopoly wheat exporter said Britain's Central
Science Laboratory (CSL) found no sign of Karnal bunt disease in
the 150 000-tonne shipment, which had previously also been
cleared by Australian scientists.
"Samples were taken under the supervision of the government of
Pakistan from all 4 ships, and CSL found no evidence of Karnal
bunt in any of the samples analysed," AMB Managing Director
Andrew Lindberg said in a statement. "AWB is pleased with the
test results, as they reaffirm Australia's reputation as a
supplier of high-quality clean, white wheat, and vindicates our
position regarding the quality of Australian wheat during the
recent events in Pakistan," he added.
Karnal bunt, a fungus that gives wheat a fishy smell that makes
it unfit for human consumption, has never been detected in
Australia, and Australian experts who tested the grain said they
found none in the shipment.
Lindberg said the company had the wheat re-examined in Britain
in a bid to ensure other key markets did not reject future
shipments. Pakistan's claim that the shipment was infected
prompted government protests from Australia and threatened to
undermine the country's $3.5 billion-per-year wheat export
business.
The wheat rejected by Pakistan was eventually sold to other
countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Javed Mahmood
adds: Ministry of Food and Agriculture on Monday rejected the
claims of the Australian Wheat Board officials who said
independent tests had proven that the wheat rejected by Pakistan
was free from Karnal bunt disease.
Dr Qadir Bux Baloch, wheat commissioner of the ministry of food
and agriculture, told Daily Times in Islamabad that the tests of
Australian wheat were carried out in the presence of both
Australian as well as Pakistani officials, which led to
detection of Karnal bunt disease. He said samples of wheat were
taken in the presence of the Australian officials and Tradesman
International, the company that imported wheat from Australia.
Dr Baloch said the fresh tests arranged by Australian Wheat
Board had no legal standing, as there was no provision of such
tests in the tenders invited by the Pakistan Agricultural
Storage and Supply Corporation.
It had been clearly mentioned in the tenders that wheat would
only be tested in Pakistani labs and not abroad, he said. The
wheat commissioner said the Australian Board played no role in
the deal, which was directly between Pakistan Agricultural
Storage and Supply Corporation (PASSCO) and Tradesman
International (to import 0.15
million tons of wheat). The federal government approved the
import of 0.3 million tons of wheat, to meet consumption
requirements.
PASSCO was allowed to import the commodity through the private
sector. Tradesman International won the tender for 0.15 million
tons of wheat in 3 equal lots, but all the lots were rejected by
the federal government when wheat proved substandard and
infected with Karnal bunt.
Dr Baloch insisted that Pakistan itself was a wheat-growing
country that exported its product, and importing
disease-infected wheat could damage the country's crop and its
foreign market.
[Karnal bunt [Kb] is caused by the fungus _Tilletia indica_.
The disease was first reported in the Karnal district of India
in 1930 and has since been reported in Afghanistan, Pakistan
Nepal, Iraq, Iran and Mexico. The disease was also reported in
Arizona and California in regions adjacent to Mexico in March
1996. Diseased grain bears a fishy odor, which downgrades the
grain but does not adversely affect quality.
This long-simmering problem seems to be resolved, although not
to the satisfaction of all concerned. CSL was selected to test
the samples because it currently has 88 procedures within the
Food Safety & Quality, Microbiology and Pesticides Veterinary
Medicine Groups accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard by the
United Kingdom Accreditation Service and is a world-renowned
expert laboratory in testing for Kb. In addition, the Australian
Department of Fisheries Forestry and Agricultural has
independently tested over 100 samples of current seasons grain
from throughout Australia's entire wheat belt and no Kb was
found. - Mod.DH]
