By Karen Bong
KUCHING, Feb 14: A special committee on plant protection will be established to specifically look into and monitor pesticide residue in fruits and vegetables in Sarawak.
Minister of Food Industry, Commodity and Regional Development Dato Sri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom said that his ministry had early this year given its support to the proposal to set up the specific committee to tackle issues related to pesticide residue in plants, including fruits and vegetables.
“Recently, a new initiative was proposed at the department level to establish a specific committee known as the Plant Protection Committee Sector 2: Monitoring Pesticide Residue to tackle the issue (pesticide residue in vegetables and fruits).
“The first meeting will be held on Feb 21 involving all relevant stakeholders including the Ministry of Health (MOH), Sarawak Pesticide and Fertiliser Control Division and all Divisional Agriculture officers to specifically look into the issue,” he told DayakDaily when contacted today.
Dr Rundi emphasised that the Ministry and the Department of Agriculture (DOA) Sarawak are aware that pesticide residues exceeding the Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) are occasionally detected in some vegetable samples from farms throughout Sarawak.
He, however, explained that the presence of pesticide residue in vegetable produce is a common issue not only in Sarawak, but the whole of Malaysia and even globally.
Assuring the public that so far no farms with Malaysian Good Agricultural Practice (MyGAP) certification in Sarawak have had their certification revoked due to non-compliance of food safety standards, Dr Rundi warned that warning letters will be issued to growers when their produce are found to have exceeded MRL values.
“For MyGAP farmers, their certificate can be withdrawn by the Agriculture Department of Malaysia after four consecutive violations.
“Other initiatives taken include conducting awareness seminars and continuous advisory by the extension staff from Department of Agriculture (DOA) Sarawak on pesticide use in farming, apart from collecting vegetable samples for residue analysis periodically from various farms throughout Sarawak,” he added. — DayakDaily
