By Karen Bong
KUCHING, Feb 14: Pesticides residue levels that exceeded safety limits were occasionally found in some vegetable samples taken from farms throughout Sarawak, but so far no farms’ licenses have been revoked for non-compliance.
Minister of Food Industry, Commodity and Regional Development Dato Sri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom confirmed this when asked to comment about a viral post on social media alleging that the vegetables produced by a local vegetable producer and supplied to a number of leading supermarket chains in Sarawak contained pesticides beyond the permitted levels.
“The Pesticide Residues Unit from Agriculture Research Centre and extension staff from Department of Agriculture (DOA) Sarawak divisions collect samples of various vegetables and conduct pesticide residue analysis periodically from agriculture farms throughout Sarawak.
“Occasionally, pesticide residues that exceeded the Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) are detected in some samples, which is a common issue for the whole of Malaysia even globally.
“The results are extended to the Department of Agriculture (DOA) Sarawak offices for action such as giving advice to the affected growers,” he said when contacted by DayakDaily on the issue today.
However, Dr Rundi pointed out that so far there are no farms with Malaysian Good Agricultural Practices (MyGAP) certification in Sarawak being revoked due to non-compliance of the food safety standards.
Aware of the situation and issue, he warned that the certificate of MyGAP farmers will be withdrawn by the Agriculture Department of Malaysia after four consecutive violations.
In the viral post that has alleged a local producer of non-compliance to pesticide use, Dr Rundi gave assurance that the farm with MyGAP certification and located in Kota Samarahan and Serian has no compliance issue, according to the latest pesticide residue analysis.
“The farm is registered and its MyGAP certificate are renewed every two years,” he said.
On allegation that DOA Sarawak officers were barred from entering one part of the farm which was sprayed with insecticides but vegetables were harvested two days later upon another check, Dr Rundi said the farm’s supervisors had given excellent cooperation during sampling and visit.
“DOA officers had never encountered the incident of being forbidden from entering the farms.
“The pre-harvest interval for different pesticides range from zero days to a maximum number of days. If the farm operators are using pesticide with a one-day pre-harvest interval, the produce can be harvested the next day,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the viral post mentioned that DOA Sarawak made visits to vegetable farms around Kuching, Serian, Bau and other places from time to time and on one occasion, one local farm had barred the officers from entering one part of the farm where vegetables had just been sprayed with insecticides.
It said that the officers abided by the instructions but returned two days later to the farm for another round of check but was surprised that the vegetables had been harvested.
As such, it added that the officers then made random purchases of vegetables of the particular supplier from supermarkets and the products were sent to the lab for testing on the amount of chemical used where it claimed to have found they had exceeded the safety limit.
The viral message also mentioned that the authority will not renew the local farm’ annual licenses and warned consumers to be more cautious. — DayakDaily
