Pesticide content in fruit to be regulated

JAKARTA (JP): The government will soon issue a ruling on the standardization of content of pesticide residue in fruits and vegetables to protect consumers, says a senior official.

Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah said on Monday that the ruling on the standardization of pesticide residue is now being processed.

"We hope we can issue the ruling within the next few days," he told reporters about the government's plan in curbing the continued increase in imported fruits in the country.

He, however, said the main idea behind the standardization of the tolerable limit of the pesticide residue in fruits and vegetables is "to protect consumers rather than to curb the continued increase in imported fruits".

The pesticide standardization would, in the first step, be apply to six fruits such as apples, pears and grapes, most of which are imported from Australia and New Zealand.

"Samples of all imported fruits would be checked at designated laboratories. If the content of their pesticide residue is above the tolerable limit, the sale of the fruit on the domestic market would be prohibited," he said about the mechanism in applying the new ruling.

Winarno, the director for the development of horticulture in the Ministry of Agriculture, said yesterday that imported fruits sold in the country not only have a high pesticide content but are also of low grade.

"That's why they are very cheap," he told Antara news agency. "The quality of imported fruits is often poorer than those produced at home."

Bungaran Saragih, a professor at Bogor Agriculture University, shared Winarno's view that most of the cheap imported fruits sold in the country is of poor quality.

"Most fruits entering Indonesia are of poor quality. They are flooding into the country... that's why they are very cheap," Saragih said.

The prices of imported fruits does, in fact, cover only transportation costs, he noted.

Imported fruits, which previously were sold only supermarkets, are now even available in traditional markets, an impact of the government's move to open up the country's farm market in the late 1980s. (hen)