27 April 2010

BEIRUT: Agriculture Minister Hussein al-Hajj Hassan assured Lebanese on Monday that he would continue following up on the safety of food in Lebanon with the “same strength and excitement” as he promised before.

Hajj Hassan’s remarks came during a news conference held in the ministry to outline to reporters details of the seized spoiled sesame seeds shipment.

Hajj Hassan thanked the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) commander and Intelligence for handling this issue in which an employee in the agricultural health quarantine in the Beirut Harbor “who is entrusted in securing food safety” was reportedly involved.

“A ship with sesame aboard left Nigeria on June 18, 2009 and headed to Syria where two of its containers were rejected,” said Hassan. He added that the two containers reached the Beirut port on February 12, 2010, “which means eight months later, and it is well known that sesame doesn’t bear storage for a long time.”

Hajj Hassan voiced surprise the results of tests conducted on the shipment 12 days after its arrival “surprisingly” revealed that it was still in good shape. He vowed to launch an investigation to figure out how such tests had been undertaken.

The minister added that four days ago there had been an attempt to bring the sesame out of Beirut’s port, “although oil, worms, and insects infested the shipment, which emitted a nauseating smell,” as he displayed to reporters a sample of the spoiled sesame.

“The products remained in the port for two months and the employee that approved its entrance to the harbor didn’t examine it for a second time after this long period although he is an agricultural engineer, who knows that sesame can’t tolerate storage,” said the agriculture minister.

He announced the employee would be subjected to the “harshest punishment,” adding that his file would be referred to the Central Inspection.

“I truly wish that the Central Inspection would finish its investigation as soon as possible and refer the employee to the judiciary.”

Hajj Hassan pledged to reshuffle employees in the health quarantine centers by way of a first step in dealing with the problem.

He said the second decision would be to prevent the repeat of soiled cargo entering the country as it did last month.

If spoiled freight comes in from the importing side then they must bear the costs of replacing them, Hajj Hassan said.

Hajj Hassan unveiled another case whereby a “good” employee working in the health quarantine in the Al-Masnaa area along the Lebanese-Syrian borders rejected a forged health certificate.

The fake document was presented by a freight forwarding agency on behalf of a company that imported cereals and fish.

After presenting samples of valid and forged health certificates, Hajj Hassan said “the same agency has assaulted some employees several years ago.

“I warn them against even looking at the employees and not threatening them,” he said, adding that he had informed LAF intelligence about the facts and the names of individuals who had threatened employees in the health quarantine.

He noted that he would file a lawsuit against the freight forwarding agency for fraud.

Last month, a number of counterfeit medicines were confiscated by security organizations in addition to a spoiled wheat cargo seized in the Beirut harbor. – The Daily Star

Copyright The Daily Star 2010.