Confusion surrounds Italy's seizure of wheat
determine if contaminated wheat was distributed to Europe's pasta
plants, Canada's grain regulator says the shipment was tested and
found safe.
The deepening confusion over the seizure this week of the Canadian grain in Italy and the resulting delay in releasing the information emphasises the need for tracking and traceability procedures to help ensure food safety. New laws on traceability went into effect throughout the EU on 1 January.
Meanwhile EU spokesperson Nina Papadoulaki told FoodProductionDaily.com that so far no other member country had reported evidence of finding the contaminated wheat within their borders.
If any had been found member states are required to make a report to the EU's food safety alert system. The network serves to inform member state regulators about problems in the food chain.
The Commission has asked Italy to submit a report about the issue so as to determine what actions, if any, to take, she said.
Francesco Casillo, the head of Molino Casillo, one of Europe's largest millers, was arrested in Italy this week for allegedly adulterating stocks with contaminated wheat after a joint investigation by Italy's agricultural ministry and the fraud police.
The arrest followed the discovery that wheat imported from Canada had three times the allowable limit of ocratoxin, a carcinogenic substance. About 58,000 tonnes of durum wheat was confiscated at the port of Bari. Most of the wheat was destined for use in pasta making.
However Canadian Wheat Board spokesperson Maureen Fitzhenery was quoted in the Globe and Mail newspaper yesterday as stating that the wheat had been tested and found safe before leaving for Italy.
"(The shipment) was tested for ocratoxine before it left the country," Fitzhenry said. "The levels were well within acceptable parameters. This grain is safe, and we're known to have safe grain."
She also cast doubt on Italy's testing methods and speculated over whether there was a political motive behind the grain seizure. Fitzhenry noted the results came up in a durum-producing region of Italy where local farmers are known to be unhappy about the importation of foreign wheat.
"There's a lot of discontent among the durum farmers," she is quoted as stating. "It seems clear to me that there are some people in that country who aren't that keen on foreign products."
A statement by the minister of agriculture, Gianni Alemanno, said the case shows the need for stricter controls on tracing and tracking food imports. He said it also proved that Italy's system of safety inspections and tests was helping to keep contaminated food off the shelves.
"Once more foreign products have presented the greatest risk of counterfeiting and fraud, an episode that confirms the necessity of reinforcing label of origin guarantees on food products, to increase the protection both of consumers and producers who invest in quality," he stated in a press release.
The ministry said Casillo had been arrested by customs police, who carried out an arrest warrant for a charge of tampering and counterfeiting of foodstuffs, as well as poisoning of foodstuffs.
The arrest warrant was issued by the preliminary investigative judge Michele Nardi. The judge is investigating the import from Canada of grain contaminated with cancer-causing toxins, which was shown to be over legal limits on an load seized last September onboard a ship in the port of Bari, according to a statement translated by AGI Online on behalf of the Italian government.
Italy's family-owned Molino Casillo is a group of four mills situated in southern Italy. The company says it is the European leader in the production of semolina for pasta and is the world's largest private buyer of durum wheat.
Molino Casillo buys about one million tonnes of durum wheat a year. and is one of the principal market makers in durum wheat and semolina.
On 1 January this year EU laws on traceability that entered into force on 1 January 2005. The laws harmonises the bloc's requirements on the traceability of food products, the withdrawal of dangerous products from the market, operator responsibilities and requirements applicable to imports and exports. The new mandatory traceability requirement applies to all food, animal feed, food-producing animals and all types of food chain operators from the farming sector to processing, transport, storage, distribution and retail to the consumer.
All information on the name, address of producer, nature of products and date of transaction must be systematically registered within each operator's traceability system. The law requires the information to be kept for a period of five years and on request, it must immediately be made available to regulators.
World production of durum wheat is forecast to fall to 35.4 million tonnes for the 2004 to 2005 growing season, down 5.8 million tonnes from the previous season.
Canada, one of the world's largest producers of durum wheat, sells about 40 per cent of its supply to Italy, according tow AWB Consultancy.
Italy's production the previous growing season fell by 33 per cent and is forecast to be unchanged or possibly lower this season, AWB stated.
Ocratoxin is produced by several fungi and occurs naturally in a variety of plant products such as cereals, coffee beans, beans, pulses and dried fruit.
It has been detected also in products such as coffee, wine, beer and grape juice.
Its presence depends on climatic conditions, abnormally long storage, transportation, wet or dry milling, roasting procedures and fermentation.
High concentrations in foods have been linked with damage to kidney function.
