Contaminated imported wheat with glyphosate worries Brazilian purchasers

Date:07-14-2016

One of the most common concerns of Brazilian buyers of wheat is the control of contaminated imported products, especially contamination with glyphosate. The issue was raised in a discussion at a meeting of the Sectorial Chamber of Wheat of Rio Grande do Sul, held on last Thursday (July 7) at the Wheat Unit of Embrapa in Passo Fundo.

“Residue on food is a crime defined by the Criminal Code and should be avoided by all means because it can expose the guilty party to severe sanctions. The biggest problem is the control of imported wheat, where the origin country has a different level of tolerance, often a lot higher than in Brazil. How can this be controlled if conducting an analysis takes up to 30 days?” a representative of consulting agency Trigo & Farinhas (T&F) asked.

The senior analyst of T&F, Luiz Carlos Pacheco, also presented several suggestions. One of them was to verify whether there were commercial and health agreements in place with these exporting countries that would “require them to adapt to Brazilian requirements just as Brazilians adapt (to their regulations) when they buy our products.”

Pacheco pointed out that the problem arose because of “not hiring an experienced supervisor at the point of origin, at the expense of the exporter, as is the norm among international markets, in order to verify that the goods meet Brazilian standards before shipping.”

According to Pacheco, health inspections by Brazilian authorities were becoming increasingly severe and frequent. When mistakes are legally condemnable, the mills will be held liable for fines and criminal penalties because they issue the invoices to the retailers, even though the product is handled further in production and transport following its release from the mill.