Pesticide content in fruit to be regulated

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)