The Agriculture Export Council (AEC) has taken precautions to a possible ban on Egyptian peanuts from the European markets, after EU countries rejected 33 shipments of the product from Egypt in 2016, due to Aflatoxin contamination, according to reports by the European Commission.
The AEC agreed with officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, to activate ministerial decree no 62 of 2000 to ensure high quality production of peanuts, according to a note delivered to the Minister of Agriculture Abd al-Moneim al-Banna.
The ministerial decree urges ministries of agriculture and trade to implement eight preliminary measures that include pre-harvest, post-harvest and storage stages as well as shipment preparations before export, sample withdrawl from the exported peanuts, and identifying the methods and regulations applied for peanut shipment abroad.
The AEC also called on concerned parties at the Ministry of Agriculture to follow up on the ministerial protocol and avoid rejection of any shipment, as the new export season for peanuts to EU countries starts in September.
Edited Translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
