Panadda says 78% of Thai rice inspected are inferior quality

[webfact]

Panadda says 78% of rice inspected are inferior quality



BANGKOK: -- Permanent secretary to Prime Minister's Office M.L.Panadda Diskul says 78% of rice which were inspected by more than 2,000 inspection groups across the country did not meet specified quality.

He revealed the shocking finding of inferior quality rice during an address to officials and employees of the Department of Rice at TK Palace Hotel on Wednesday.

Speaking to rice officials on a topics “Instilling Merits, Ethics, Unity and Conciliation,” M.L. Panadda said throughout the past decade, politics had bitterly divided the country into groups and created rifts.

He then asked them to be restrain from rushing into doing anything that could become a mistake and guilt, citing example of the controversial rice-pledging scheme.

As the chairman of the subcommittee on rice quantity and quality check, he said rice samples examined by over 2,000 groups showed 78% of rice examined did not meet quality standard.

This was a shocking find as Thai rice was accepted worldwide of its good quality with no competitors, he said.

But it was sad that they had destroyed the name by themselves.

He then urged all rice officials to restore confidence of Thai rice and bring back the reputation.

He also encouraged government officials not to allow politicians to instigate rift and divide the people and turn the 77 provinces into different colours.

(Photo : ThaiPBS file)

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/panadda-says-78-rice-inspected-inferior-quality/


-- Thai PBS 2014-09-03

[bubblegum]

Shocking indeed

[robblok]

Everyone knew this it was part of the scam / fraud accepting rice of sub standard quality or letting it get spoiled. The rice of substandard price was booked in at a higher quality and someone pocketed the difference.

So much for Yingluck her innocence, they said it was all good and no fraud.. if the army can check the rice so could they. They always suppressed all negative news about the program threatening civil servants who came out with news it was turning at a loss (instead of the profit or break even Taksin has told everyone remember they did not budget for this and it would have been bad for them if they had because they would have to show everyone that they had to lan more and had a even bigger budget deficit.

[chotthee]

I am sure it was the exporting lot he was inspecting.

[apetley]

We live in a rice farming area. My wifes family are rice farmers.

I am not at all surprised by the figure of 78% judging by the mills and storage facilities in our area.

At least they have a roof is the best you can say.

The weather doesn't have any trouble getting in, the same for vermin and bugs.

Dogs are allowed to roam free in some shitting and pissing where they want.

I have seen one with old farm vehicles in so the floor is contaminated with oil and diesel.

No wonder the sales price is through the floor.

[seajae]

more nails in yl's and the ptp's coffin, they kept denying that the rice was below standard and everything was above board. Lets see them lie their way out of this, after all, they did have inspections or so they told everyone, even yl said it was all above board, looks like they were simply lying just as they always did.

[Katipo]

This news could be potentially very damaging to exports. At the very least, potential customers will want to be extra vigilant and receive strong assurances before opening the chequebook.

[Thai at Heart]

Was this stuff bought at the wrong prices and grades or is the inferior quality caused by storage deterioration?

It isn't new crop product any more, but does the stuff resemble high quality product that has aged, or are they sitting on stuff that was initially graded as top quality and is basically rubbish?

[Ricardo]

It's difficult to see how it could be this bad, without widespread fraud and connivance, just hope that more of the guilty can be pinned-down & prosecuted & forced to repay what they stole.

And this is surely cast-iron evidence of negligence at the very top ?

Perhaps it should be repackaged, and exported as "product of Cambodia/Laos/Burma" ?

[fisherd3]

Everything is fraud in Thailand.

[ramrod711]

We can be certain that Yingluck is not going to jail. Probably none of her Hi-So cronies either, the best we can expect will be a ban from participating in politics. I hope the ban will be for life because there are enough people in the north making excuses for her to guarantee big problems when elections resume.

[DrTuner]

Just brand it "Made in AEC" and shift the blame somewhere else. Standard practice around here.

[puipuitom]

I never forget, we were with a group of German / Dutch / Belgium / Austrian / Scandinavian buyers at a rice mill. A dog was leaving its ”job” on a pile of paddy rice. Nobody interfered.

At another rice packing line… just during the bird flue crises, 2006: many birds in the packing hall.

Comment of a person, again in German so no Thai could understand: “imagine… that bird over there has bird flue… some of its droppings end in a pack of rice… which goes to an elderly people hospital, and.. 15 get sick, 1 dies. It is traced back to a bag of rice you supplied from this packing station… “

5 minutes later all were back in the minio-van. "again a potential supplier of rice we can forget", was the comment.

At both rice mills there were no microbiological data of their end products present.

I am trying already for over a year to get from whatever source in Thailand ( DITP, Thai FDA, Thai rice exporters org, several rice exporters and even Uni's ) information about the microbiological properties /standard, but.. there seems to be nothing.

Also about... is ever a shipment of Thai rice rejected wherever on the worlkd becasue of contamination levels too high for heavy metals, pesticide residues, aflatoxin, any other microbiological reason.

Answer till now: NONE.

Also: no information about other issues like water problem for parboiled millers, or arsenic levels in waters on the rice fields etc…

As yesterday a big rice trader in EU e-mailed to me: SOON YOU WILL SEE SOME CHANGES: from the moment that greedy traders start moving rice from Thai government stocks to export ……from crop 2013 and 2012 and maybe even odler- stored lousy, fumigated to kill bugs several times, with aflatoxin formed by too high humidity storage - the risk is there to get rejects. Not one, but MANY .

But again , back in my emails , you should know as much as possible on your counterparty in the business , and if they buy paddy to process for your order , or just reclean and upgrade the old crop …and how old is that crop .

I am not really crying if we miss some volumes from low quality suppliers / for "budget" markets …as I prefer to sleep safe with the quality of rice we do business, from all origins / at all destination … When that means: "skip a certain origin for a few years", better do so.

Edited September 3, 2014 by puipuitom

[Thai at Heart]

I never forget, we were with a group of German / Dutch / Belgium / Austrian / Scandinavian buyers at a rice mill. A dog was leaving its ”job” on a pile of paddy rice. Nobody interfered.

At another rice packing line… just during the bird flue crises, 2006: many birds in the packing hall.

Comment of a person, again in German so no Thai could understand: “imagine… that bird over there has bird flue… some of its droppings end in a pack of rice… which goes to an elderly people hospital, and.. 15 get sick, 1 dies. It is traced back to a bag of rice you supplied from this packing station… “

At both rice mills there were no microbiological data of their end products present.

I am trying already for over a year to get from whatever source in Thailand ( DITP, Thai, G=FDA, Thai rice exporters org, several Uni's ) information about the microbiological properties /standard, but.. there seems to be nothing.

Also about... is ever a shipment of Thai rice rejected wherever on the worlkd becasue of contamination levels too high for heavy metals, pesticide residues, aflatoxin, any other microbiological reason.

Answer till now: NONE.

As yesterday a big rice trader in EU e-mailed to me: SOON YOU WILL SEE SOME CHANGES: from the moment that greedy traders start moving rice from Thai government stocks to export ……from crop 2013 and 2012 and maybe even odler- stored lousy, fumigated to kill bugs several times, with aflatoxin formed by too high humidity storage - the risk is there to get rejects. Not one, but MANY .

But again , back in my emails , you should know as much as possible on your counterparty in the business , and if they buy paddy to process for your order , or just reclean and upgrade the old crop …and how old is that crop .

Begs the question, why do the traders in the EU even need to buy old crop product anyway. All products should be sampled and tested for aflotoxin and pesticide residue prior to shipping.

If the traders are smart, they will pay SGS to sample the product on delivery and do their own visual inspection anyway. I can't believe that a lot of this stock will pass muster for delivery to the Eu or the US. There is new crop around, why bother to buy old?

[Prbkk]

Aflatoxin in rice is a major factor in the very high rate of primary liver cancer in Thailand ( and more so for those with chronic hepatitis B infection). This has been an issue for decades, if not centuries.

Rice is not meant to be stored this way and for this long; of course it will deteriorate. I wouldn't eat it and nor should anyone else.

[slipperx]

Hate to say but many in TV told you so - I cannot believe Thais are that stupid not to realise the same so it leaves only corruption.

An obvious end to an obvious scam.

[FangFerang]

Trying to get accurate numbers about what are actual current and projected stockpiles is like doing voodoo forecasts based on TAT figures.

In August, it was announced that "http://www.thairiceexporters.or.th/Int%20news/News_2014/int_news_300814-1.html" Thai rice stockpiles were 15 million tons. If 78% are of inferior quality, that leaves less than 2.5 million tons of rice worth trading. With the people buying these contracts, someone knows something the rest of us do not.

They just sold a million tons to Manila, which means Thailand only has 1.5 million left to trade. I know there is a new harvest coming in, but the numbers do not work -- no matter what source the numbers are pulled from. It's like Moe, Larry and Curly opened an accounting firm, and then Shemp reappeared and demanded justice.

Further, although the current climate suggests that the rice pledging scheme was an expensive failure, not ONE safeguard has been put in place to monitor stockpiles and prevent another round of theft, collusion, graft or corruption. No cameras, nor increased vigilance, nor accountability measures, nor monitoring personnel have been required or assigned at any warehouse, miller or exporter. In short, the matter smacks of business-as-usual with preventive measures both being unwanted, not funded nor piloted as programs. It seems obvious that no one wants a locked lid on the biggest cookie jar in the country. No one. Now THAT'S food for thought. The generic outcry to stop corruption is avoiding safeguarding the nations largest revenue source entirely.

Quick! Bring in the red herrings! Let's see...sidewalk vendors...yeah...motorcycle taxis...yeah....education corruption reform and unqualified teachers (first a yeah, and then a HELL NO),..so let's see....energy reform ...yeah...let everyone argue about that -- but not change anything -- porn sites...yeah...jet skis....yeah...zebra crossings and pedestrians...yeah and then (sorry, couldn't fix it, we just don't have the manpower).

If you pick a side in this...you are buying what they are selling.

[2fishin2]

Sure it was all PM Ying's fault that the farmers put crap in bags. Also her fault that the storage facilities accepted the crap. Its her fault that crooked farmers and grain warehouse managers allowed it all to happen. Every crooked farmer and every warehouse worker in Thailand was in on a scheme that she dreamed up to rob Thailand. This is why there are threads about Farangs and division....

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[akampa]

How can we be sure of what we are buying in the super markets is new crop or just old crap cleaned and put into nicely packaged plastic bags ?

Edited September 3, 2014 by akampa

[puipuitom]

Begs the question, why do the traders in the EU even need to buy old crop product anyway. All products should be sampled and tested for aflotoxin and pesticide residue prior to shipping.

If the traders are smart, they will pay SGS to sample the product on delivery and do their own visual inspection anyway. I can't believe that a lot of this stock will pass muster for delivery to the Eu or the US. There is new crop around, why bother to buy old?

Why some irrisponsable traders buy this ? Because of low price.

And... the official value of any certification / test report: see below.

What is the value of a test report ? Read what Thai labs write on their test report:

- SEAL“ Analyses results refer to the submitted sample(s) only. / The report shall not be reproduced except in full without the written approval of the laboratory”

- Central Lab (TH): “This report is certified only on the sample tested”. So, what the situation is the minute / month before / after: Give it a blessing…

- SGS: ' Unless otherwise stated the results shown in this test report refer only to the sample(s) tested."

So, not: “samples are drawn by the manufacturer said to be at random to give a result being valid for their entire production. The test results are in line with previous testing for the same we saw for this company before” Or even… in line with other test results we saw for the entire Thai industry for this product. As THEN you have a real hard evidence. .

Now you have a lab report valid for the used-up sample only, and you are even not allowed to use this to show to potential customers and/or governmental food authorities. What is the value of such a lab test / can you do with it except put it in your office’s safe ? ?.

That's why a top-official of the Dutch governmental food autority NVWA states

Van:

Verzonden: donderdag 15 november 2012 18:04

Aan: Thai Trade NL - H.G. Romijn

Onderwerp: RE: NVWA: certificatie nog te onbetrouwbaar

· In mijn artikel in VMT heb ik het over de certificaten die in Nederland worden verstrekt. Als u vervolgens af wilt gaan op de certificaten uit derdelanden, dan zult u het met me eens zijn dat hier nog vaker het predikaat "onbetrouwbaar" op geplakt kan worden, om niet te spreken van "fraude". Dáár heeft u als importeur mee te maken en daar zult u alles aan moeten doen om de juiste waarborgen te krijgen. Dat overheden in het Verre OOsten in rap tempo hun controles aanscherpen is natuurlijk toe te juichen, maar u kunt niet ontkennen dat dit pas gebeurt nadat andere continenten (waaronder Europa) bij grenscontroles dit soort parktijken tegenkwamen en producten hebben teruggestuurd.

In my article in VMT I am talking only about the certificates which are issued in the Netherlands. If you want to rely on certifications from third countries, then you will agree with me that here more often these could be classified as "unreliable", not to speak of "fraud". That is where you as an importer have to do everything to get the proper safeguards installed to guarantee food safety. That governments in the Far East is rapidly tightening their controls is of course welcome, but you cannot deny that this happens only after other continents (including Europe) at border controls encountered in such practices and products have rejected at EU entrance borders .

Mr XXX Coördinerend Specialistisch Inspecteur voedselveiligheid

de Nederlandse Voedsel- en Warenautoriteit

divisie Consument en Veiligheid, afd Toezichtontwikkeling

Catharijnesingel 59

3511 GG Utrecht

Tel: (088) 223 33 33

How to read / understand this ? Something like: despite you are educated Bachelor or even Master degree at a food science university, passed a training for BRC /IFS / ISO 22000 set up to fulfil ALL relevant EU food regulations and laws, working at a sometimes over a century worldwide appreciated inspection and certification organisation like Bureau Veritas, Det Norske Veritas, Intertek/ Moody / Lloyds / SGS / TUV, we ultimate supreme Western food authority NVWA see your work as of fraudulous natives ?

Unfortunately none of the above certifiers filed a court case for criminal defamation, despite of knowing the above, so, I have to come to the conclusion the NVWA is right ?

[puipuitom]

Aflatoxin in rice is a major factor in the very high rate of primary liver cancer in Thailand ( and more so for those with chronic hepatitis B infection). This has been an issue for decades, if not centuries.

Rice is not meant to be stored this way and for this long; of course it will deteriorate. I wouldn't eat it and nor should anyone else.

The average consumption of rice in the EU ( Germany, Belgium, Netherlands: 1.4 kg/head/year) is a LOT lower as in the "rice countries", like S.E. Asia ( about 60 kg / head / year)

The max tolerated level of aflatoxin ( sum of the 4 types) in the EU is 4 ppb ( microgram per kg). In the USA 20, in S.E. Asia 30

Means, the yearly intake risk in S.E. Asia compared with EU for aflatoxin is 60/1.4 * 30/4 = 5143 x so high.

Remind: risk is NOT EQUAL to reality

Looking at import statistics from Eurostat ( = EU customs)

From 1990-2012 import for white rice ex Thailand only ( taric 1006.30+.40) and husked (1006.20) in mton:

ex Thailand only white+broken /husked in metric tons

EU (27member states, 1999-2013) 3.007.400 / 1.399.560

Belgium (1990-2013) 478.333 / 75.236

Germany (1990-2013) 375.243 /141.669

Netherlands (1990-2013) 470.882 / 226.556

All three seen landing ports 1.324.458 / 443.461

France (1990-2013) 1.197.756 / 743.403

By the EU authorities only two shipments were refused because of too high aflatoxin values:

first entry in RASFF database in 2000 : One case of aflatoxin in Thai brown jasmine rice is mentioned: 2007.CZJ B1 = 7.4; Tot. = 8.0 µg/kg - ppb and one in black rice 2004.BMS, none in Vietnamese. ‘

Other origins: India 8 since 2008 of which 2007.CVW >20), Pakistan ( 37 since 2007 of which 2008.AJX >15 and 2008.ALH >20) and Sri Lanka 8x ( none above 15) .

So, for Asia... all would be accepted.

Edited September 3, 2014 by puipuitom

[rubl]

78%? Well, on the 24th last month the preliminary figures indicated one in five OK, this "final" figure shouldn't surprise much

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/754296-most-of-the-rice-tested-in-government-warehouses-substandard/

[rubl]

I never forget, we were with a group of German / Dutch / Belgium / Austrian / Scandinavian buyers at a rice mill. A dog was leaving its ”job” on a pile of paddy rice. Nobody interfered.

At another rice packing line… just during the bird flue crises, 2006: many birds in the packing hall.

Comment of a person, again in German so no Thai could understand: “imagine… that bird over there has bird flue… some of its droppings end in a pack of rice… which goes to an elderly people hospital, and.. 15 get sick, 1 dies. It is traced back to a bag of rice you supplied from this packing station… “

5 minutes later all were back in the minio-van. "again a potential supplier of rice we can forget", was the comment.

At both rice mills there were no microbiological data of their end products present.

I am trying already for over a year to get from whatever source in Thailand ( DITP, Thai FDA, Thai rice exporters org, several rice exporters and even Uni's ) information about the microbiological properties /standard, but.. there seems to be nothing.

Also about... is ever a shipment of Thai rice rejected wherever on the worlkd becasue of contamination levels too high for heavy metals, pesticide residues, aflatoxin, any other microbiological reason.

Answer till now: NONE.

Also: no information about other issues like water problem for parboiled millers, or arsenic levels in waters on the rice fields etc…

As yesterday a big rice trader in EU e-mailed to me: SOON YOU WILL SEE SOME CHANGES: from the moment that greedy traders start moving rice from Thai government stocks to export ……from crop 2013 and 2012 and maybe even odler- stored lousy, fumigated to kill bugs several times, with aflatoxin formed by too high humidity storage - the risk is there to get rejects. Not one, but MANY .

But again , back in my emails , you should know as much as possible on your counterparty in the business , and if they buy paddy to process for your order , or just reclean and upgrade the old crop …and how old is that crop .

I am not really crying if we miss some volumes from low quality suppliers / for "budget" markets …as I prefer to sleep safe with the quality of rice we do business, from all origins / at all destination … When that means: "skip a certain origin for a few years", better do so.

On the somewhat brighter side we had better news in May. Mind you, no real government involvement

"ROI ET, May 27 -- A leading European rice trading company has ordered the first lot of Thai organic jasmine rice produced in the northeastern province of Roi Et after observing the non-toxic rice farm production process here."

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/729489-european-rice-trader-places-large-order-for-roi-et-jasmine-rice/

[Stradavarius37]

Trying to get accurate numbers about what are actual current and projected stockpiles is like doing voodoo forecasts based on TAT figures.

In August, it was announced that "http://www.thairiceexporters.or.th/Int%20news/News_2014/int_news_300814-1.html" Thai rice stockpiles were 15 million tons. If 78% are of inferior quality, that leaves less than 2.5 million tons of rice worth trading. With the people buying these contracts, someone knows something the rest of us do not.

They just sold a million tons to Manila, which means Thailand only has 1.5 million left to trade. I know there is a new harvest coming in, but the numbers do not work -- no matter what source the numbers are pulled from. It's like Moe, Larry and Curly opened an accounting firm, and then Shemp reappeared and demanded justice.

Further, although the current climate suggests that the rice pledging scheme was an expensive failure, not ONE safeguard has been put in place to monitor stockpiles and prevent another round of theft, collusion, graft or corruption. No cameras, nor increased vigilance, nor accountability measures, nor monitoring personnel have been required or assigned at any warehouse, miller or exporter. In short, the matter smacks of business-as-usual with preventive measures both being unwanted, not funded nor piloted as programs. It seems obvious that no one wants a locked lid on the biggest cookie jar in the country. No one. Now THAT'S food for thought. The generic outcry to stop corruption is avoiding safeguarding the nations largest revenue source entirely.

Quick! Bring in the red herrings! Let's see...sidewalk vendors...yeah...motorcycle taxis...yeah....education corruption reform and unqualified teachers (first a yeah, and then a HELL NO),..so let's see....energy reform ...yeah...let everyone argue about that -- but not change anything -- porn sites...yeah...jet skis....yeah...zebra crossings and pedestrians...yeah and then (sorry, couldn't fix it, we just don't have the manpower).

If you pick a side in this...you are buying what they are selling.

Feel better? Lol

[Ronn68]

That's why I only eat red and black rice. Both are nutrient-rich and good for you and that's what you really need to be eating although not as easily accessible as the regular white rice.

[SOTIRIOS]

...if that is not criminal....what is.....

...is Yingluck at the airport......

[djjamie]

September 3rd, 2014 - "rice samples examined by over 2,000 groups showed 78% of rice examined did not meet quality standard"

July 7th, 2013 - "Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra insisted that rice is up to international standards and safe for consumption"

Of course the information yingluck drew from was charlerms sons best mate and the other guy was a good mate of thaksins from the commerce ministry whose deputy is an accused terrorist. Imagine if they said the truth? That is a sure fire way to get sacked by the PTP. Just look at Supa.

I wonder if the 2000 inspection groups are all related to, or friends with the Right Honorable Ahbisit and this is all a grand conspiracy?

I remember commenting on July the 8th saying something along the lines of "This is not true" only to be met with "Prove it" and "This scheme has no irregularities" and other swell comments that are as laughable as Judy Garland beating Usain Bolt in the 100 meter sprint while wearing her ruby slippers. Seeing the comments on this thread I see the excuses have "evolved" now as well. How Charles Darwin would have been proud.

To be a red shirt apologist must be a full time job in excuse making!

Edited September 3, 2014 by djjamie

[northernjohn]

Everyone knew this it was part of the scam / fraud accepting rice of sub standard quality or letting it get spoiled. The rice of substandard price was booked in at a higher quality and someone pocketed the difference.

So much for Yingluck her innocence, they said it was all good and no fraud.. if the army can check the rice so could they. They always suppressed all negative news about the program threatening civil servants who came out with news it was turning at a loss (instead of the profit or break even Taksin has told everyone remember they did not budget for this and it would have been bad for them if they had because they would have to show everyone that they had to lan more and had a even bigger budget deficit.

Also

This was a shocking find as Thai rice was accepted worldwide of its good quality with no competitors, he said.

Does that explain why the Ivory Coast had to dump 25% of what they bought and Iran and Iraq said they would not buy from Thailand again?

The very fact that Yingluck could or would not allow the public to know the price of the government to government deals shows she was knew what was going on.

Edited September 3, 2014 by northernjohn

[Thai at Heart]

Begs the question, why do the traders in the EU even need to buy old crop product anyway. All products should be sampled and tested for aflotoxin and pesticide residue prior to shipping.

If the traders are smart, they will pay SGS to sample the product on delivery and do their own visual inspection anyway. I can't believe that a lot of this stock will pass muster for delivery to the Eu or the US. There is new crop around, why bother to buy old?

Why some irrisponsable traders buy this ? Because of low price.

And... the official value of any certification / test report: see below.

What is the value of a test report ? Read what Thai labs write on their test report:

- SEAL“ Analyses results refer to the submitted sample(s) only. / The report shall not be reproduced except in full without the written approval of the laboratory”

- Central Lab (TH): “This report is certified only on the sample tested”. So, what the situation is the minute / month before / after: Give it a blessing…

- SGS: ' Unless otherwise stated the results shown in this test report refer only to the sample(s) tested."

So, not: “samples are drawn by the manufacturer said to be at random to give a result being valid for their entire production. The test results are in line with previous testing for the same we saw for this company before” Or even… in line with other test results we saw for the entire Thai industry for this product. As THEN you have a real hard evidence. .

Now you have a lab report valid for the used-up sample only, and you are even not allowed to use this to show to potential customers and/or governmental food authorities. What is the value of such a lab test / can you do with it except put it in your office’s safe ? ?.

That's why a top-official of the Dutch governmental food autority NVWA states

Van:

Verzonden: donderdag 15 november 2012 18:04

Aan: Thai Trade NL - H.G. Romijn

Onderwerp: RE: NVWA: certificatie nog te onbetrouwbaar

· In mijn artikel in VMT heb ik het over de certificaten die in Nederland worden verstrekt. Als u vervolgens af wilt gaan op de certificaten uit derdelanden, dan zult u het met me eens zijn dat hier nog vaker het predikaat "onbetrouwbaar" op geplakt kan worden, om niet te spreken van "fraude". Dáár heeft u als importeur mee te maken en daar zult u alles aan moeten doen om de juiste waarborgen te krijgen. Dat overheden in het Verre OOsten in rap tempo hun controles aanscherpen is natuurlijk toe te juichen, maar u kunt niet ontkennen dat dit pas gebeurt nadat andere continenten (waaronder Europa) bij grenscontroles dit soort parktijken tegenkwamen en producten hebben teruggestuurd.

In my article in VMT I am talking only about the certificates which are issued in the Netherlands. If you want to rely on certifications from third countries, then you will agree with me that here more often these could be classified as "unreliable", not to speak of "fraud". That is where you as an importer have to do everything to get the proper safeguards installed to guarantee food safety. That governments in the Far East is rapidly tightening their controls is of course welcome, but you cannot deny that this happens only after other continents (including Europe) at border controls encountered in such practices and products have rejected at EU entrance borders .

Mr XXX Coördinerend Specialistisch Inspecteur voedselveiligheid

de Nederlandse Voedsel- en Warenautoriteit

divisie Consument en Veiligheid, afd Toezichtontwikkeling

Catharijnesingel 59

3511 GG Utrecht

Tel: (088) 223 33 33

How to read / understand this ? Something like: despite you are educated Bachelor or even Master degree at a food science university, passed a training for BRC /IFS / ISO 22000 set up to fulfil ALL relevant EU food regulations and laws, working at a sometimes over a century worldwide appreciated inspection and certification organisation like Bureau Veritas, Det Norske Veritas, Intertek/ Moody / Lloyds / SGS / TUV, we ultimate supreme Western food authority NVWA see your work as of fraudulous natives ?

Unfortunately none of the above certifiers filed a court case for criminal defamation, despite of knowing the above, so, I have to come to the conclusion the NVWA is right ?

Well, the buyers overseas can't do more than insist that the product is within EU Limits. If its testing is not stringent enough, that is not the trader nor the foreign retailers fault. If it gets refused at the port in the EU the disposal cost is astronomical, and this stuff is in the thousands of tonnes when its exported. So, risking exporting this stuff if it doesn't meet pesticide or residue limits is absolutely fraught with risk financially, let alone reputation wise.

The buyer in the EU can stipulate how exactly the samples shall be taken and how they shall be handled. if they aren't and the stuff gets to the EU and it fails, I would just get the exporter to pay for its disposal.

[Suriya4]

EU is not the father of Thailand. Why would Thailand listen to EU?