50% of Iranian pistachios could be exported to Europe
The Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran announced: In today’s meeting of the Assembly, the issue of determining the permissible level of aflatoxin in pistachios was raised, while the EU proposal did not vote for 4PPB (four ppm) and instead our country’s proposal to determine the number 8PPB (eight pp) It was approved as the base number of studies with the support of Japan, Egypt, Jordan, Singapore, Syria, Indonesia, China, Malaysia and India. (Joint Expert Committee of the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization for Food Additives) to be voted and approved.
Earlier, Nizamuddin Barzegari, deputy director of non-metallic research at the Iranian Institute of Standards and Industrial Research, said: At last year ‘s meeting of the technical committee on codex pollutants, Europeans proposed 2.4 PPB for aflatoxin levels acceptable in Iranian pistachios. .
He mentioned Iran’s proposal for the amount of aflatoxin in pistachios 15 PPB and said: if this condition is accepted, the possibility of exporting 75% of Iranian pistachios and if the condition of 4 PPB is accepted, only 10% of Iranian pistachios will be exported.
Referring to the US proposal of 10 PPB for the amount of aflatoxins in Iranian pistachios, he said: EU members had a dispute over the amount of aflatoxins in Iranian pistachios and some of them had a proposal of 8 PPBs, if this proposal is approved, less than 50 Percentage of Iranian pistachios will be able to be exported to Europe.
He continued: After consultations, it was decided that the JACFA Committee, consisting of the FAO and the World Health Organization, would conclude on three numbers 8, 10 and 15 as the amount of aflatoxin in Iranian pistachios, which this figure in the June meeting of the year. 2007 will be determined.
It is worth mentioning that with the approval of 8PPB, less than 50% of Iranian pistachios will be able to be exported to Europe.
