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Pesticide content: CFTRI clears Australian wheat

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13,000 tonnes discharged; second ship set to arrive at Tuticorin today

Chennai/New Delhi , May 1

The Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, has cleared the 50,885-tonne wheat consignment from Australia, which faced problems on the grounds of high pesticide content.

Samples of the wheat consignment, which arrived last week, were sent to CFTRI after tests by the Chennai port health offices and the regional plant quarantine station found the pesticide content to be 0.25 per cent against the permissible level of 0.02 per cent.

Official sources said CFTRI had found the pesticide content within permissible limits.

According to Chennai Port Trust sources, the pesticide was "evaporational" and posed no risk.

In its tender, the State Trading Corporation (STC), which is importing the wheat on behalf of the Union Food Ministry, had laid norms that the consignment be sprayed with pesticide before the ship set sail from Australia. Till Monday evening, about 13,000 tonnes of the consignment had been discharged at the port. Even as the issue of higher pesticide content was raised, the Chennai port had begun discharging the wheat.

Meanwhile, the second consignment of 41,000 tonnes of wheat from Australia is set to arrive in Tuticorin by Equinox Dawn on Tuesday. Besides, three more vessels are loading wheat for India in Australia.

STC has contracted to import five lakh tonnes of wheat from Australia's AWB Ltd at $178.75 a tonne.

The first consignment arrived in Chennai last week.

The entire wheat imports are expected to be completed by June.

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