Nepal's Department of Food Technology and Quality Control is launching a program to monitor pesticide residue in food as the European Union recently rejected Nepali tea and honey for having high pesticide levels. The program aims to develop monitoring techniques for pesticide use in food production and inspect production sites to help food exports meet international standards and reduce rejection risks in global markets as Nepal is a member of the World Trade Organization. This year the program will also focus on educating farmers on proper pesticide use and alternatives to address the issue at its source.
Nepal's Department of Food Technology and Quality Control is launching a program to monitor pesticide residue in food as the European Union recently rejected Nepali tea and honey for having high pesticide levels. The program aims to develop monitoring techniques for pesticide use in food production and inspect production sites to help food exports meet international standards and reduce rejection risks in global markets as Nepal is a member of the World Trade Organization. This year the program will also focus on educating farmers on proper pesticide use and alternatives to address the issue at its source.
Nepal's Department of Food Technology and Quality Control is launching a program to monitor pesticide residue in food as the European Union recently rejected Nepali tea and honey for having high pesticide levels. The program aims to develop monitoring techniques for pesticide use in food production and inspect production sites to help food exports meet international standards and reduce rejection risks in global markets as Nepal is a member of the World Trade Organization. This year the program will also focus on educating farmers on proper pesticide use and alternatives to address the issue at its source.
Nepal launches program to monitor pesticide residue in food
16:37, July 21, 2007
Nepal's Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) is to launch a program to monitor pesticide residue in food items in the country, The Himalayan Times reported on Saturday.
According to the daily, the program includes the development of techniques to monitor the use of pesticide while producing the food items for export and monitoring production mechanism on the spot.
"The program is launched keeping in mind of various cases of refusal of Nepali food items in the international market," said Jiwan Prava Lama, deputy director-general of the DFTQC.
"The European Union rejected exported Nepali tea and honey recently, stating that it had high pesticide residue," said Nava Raj Dahal, a food researcher at the DFTQC.
The program will help understand the production mechanism of food products to be exported, he said.
Dahal said, "As a member of the World Trade Organization, we have some obligations to fulfill to compete in the international market. The monitoring program will help harmonize our products with the international standard and lower the risk of rejection."
This year, the DFTQC aims to make farmers aware of the issue of pesticide residue, said Dahal. "Previously, we had focused on making consumers aware of pesticide residue, but the root issue was not addressed," he added.
The problem will never emerge if the farmers consciously use pesticides or substitute it with bio-pesticides, he said.