Food standard agency allays concern on reported contamination

BANGKOK, May 9 (TNA) - The National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards (ACFS) advised consumers not to be worried about a recent report from the Thailand Pesticide Alert Network (Thai-PAN) on contamination in quality fruit and vegetable products. ACFS secretary-general Doojduan Sasanavin said that the amount of fruit and vegetable samples that the network had collected from department stores and markets was too small and could not accurately indicate a real contamination situation in the country. The Department of Agriculture was verifying the study of Thai-PAN which reported unhealthy contamination in three organic product items and eight quality product items that ACFS certified. The department would question relevant producers and operators and check if any fake quality labels were used, Miss Doojduan said. The investigation would be concluded within this week and any farmers who intentionally used chemicals in a harmful manner would be punished, she said. The Department of Agriculture tested more than 3,500 vegetable product samples this year and about 1,500 samples bore the “Q” quality labels of ACFS. Of the samples, only seven or less than 1% were unhealthily contaminated and therefore quality certification by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives was reliable, Miss Doojduan said. (TNA)