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Toxic chemicals in imported white sugar
Ministry says further tests being conducted, other imported food also being checked
Harmful substances have been found in white sugar imported to Sri Lanka, Agriculture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena has disclosed. Random tests on samples of Brazilian sugar had revealed a high level of toxic cadmium, the Minister told the Sunday Times. He said the sugar was also being tested for arsenic, another heavy metal, which could cause serious health issues when ingested in high quantities.
Responding to a query from the Sunday Times whether tests were being carried out on other food products, the minister said that while tests on imported sugar revealed these chemical substances, random checks on locally-produced sugar were clear. Random checks on imported dhal, potatoes and onions also did not show any toxic substances, he said.
The ministry’s Additional Secretary D.B.T. Wijeratne said these were initial tests and the follow-up action would be to test more samples at accredited laboratories to confirm these findings. “We are hoping to check apples, grapes and oranges as well,” Dr. Wijeratne said. He said the ministry decided on this course of action after an in-depth World Health Organisation report on the Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Origin (CKDu) that has been felling the Dry Zone farmer.
“The Agriculture Ministry felt the need to do these tests, as there was criticism against us about agrochemicals not being regulated properly and the excessive use of agrochemicals,” Minister Abeywardena said. Residues in the kidneys of some of the farmers who had died of CKDu, according to the WHO report, were from agrochemicals not in use in Sri Lanka, he said. That was why the ministry felt it needed to check imported food products.
Meanwhile, three pesticides— carbofuran, chlorpyriphos and propanil — which the WHO report indicated were harmful had been prohibited in Sri Lanka, the minister said. According to information provided by the Minister, carbofuran imports amounted to 671,504kg, chlorpyriphos 299,999kg and propanil 995,310kg in 2012. This amounts to 10% of all imported pesticides a year.
FAC silence on milk issue
Sri Lanka’s Food Authority kept mum from January over chemical contamination of imported milk powder, even after New Zealand informed it — raising serious accountability issues on the part of the food watchdog.
Concerns over transparency and accountability are surfacing, as the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) stated categorically that it informed the Sri Lankan authorities of the Dicyandiamide (DCD) issue in January this year.
On Friday, the New Zealand Ministry, responding to queries from the Sunday Times, gave details of the tests it had carried out since September last year with the results showing that the levels of DCD in its milk were safe for human consumption. The World Health Organisation (WHO), in a separate communication to the Health Ministry, said tests carried out since 2003 by other agencies had also concluded that DCD was harmless.
However, the biggest problem, a Sunday Times investigation discovered, was the failure of the Food Authority under which comes the Food Advisory Committee (FAC), to inform the Sri Lankan public of these issues as early as January this year. The FAC is the authority responsible for ensuring food safety.
The Sunday Times learns that the FAC, despite having this information, failed not only to alert the Sri Lankan public but also other government authorities. This was substantiated by Agriculture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena when he told the Sunday Times that he was concerned that the DCD issue had not been publicised in Sri Lanka until this month. It was only after President Mahinda Rajapaksa in March ordered the Consumer Affairs Authority to conduct tests on New Zealand-sourced powdered milk that this issue surfaced.
“We were not told anything about this issue but have been collecting material and wanted to bring it to the attention of the authorities,” Mr. Abeywardena said explaining why he raised this matter in Parliament.
Repeated attempts during the week to reach the FAC for comment, failed with a senior official being curt to our reporter in the last attempt on Friday afternoon. “Many newspapers call me, asking about the milk issue. I should have a lot of mouths and phones to answer all those questions. The Health Ministry will release a media statement soon and I won’t say anything about the milk issue,” he said.
Throughout the week, while the Sri Lankan public waited patiently for a detailed explanation from the Government as to whether Fonterra’s Anchor and Ratthi – which have a sizable 60 per cent share of the powdered milk market – were contaminated or not, there was silence from the FAC. The Sunday Times made about 30 calls to the FAC.
Health Services Director-General Dr. Palitha Mahipala is chairman of the FAC while its Secretary is Dr. Ananda Jayalal.
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