T
he rice sector takes it that there
are factors that can be adjusted
in the Pesticide Residue Analy-
sis in Food (Para), of the Nation-
al Health Surveillance Agency
(Anvisa). As far as the industry is concerned,
the concern does not stop there, and is fo-
cused on the inspection of the cereal stored
in thewholesale and retail salewarehouses.
“Such factors as transport, excessive
warehouse stacks or wrong stacking, dam-
ages topacking, faultypackaging,moisture
and temperature, among other factors,
could affect the quality of the final product
that reaches the consumers, and the indus-
try has no control over such things”, said
André Barretto, vice-president of the Bra-
zilian Rice Industry Association (Abiarroz).
“It would be necessary to expand this type
of inspection, so as to prevent the com-
panies from being held accountable for
something out of their reach”. Thiswarning
was expressed at the meeting of the Na-
tional Rice Sectoral Chamber.
As to the residues, according to him, the
Anvisa report does not come as a surprise: it
only ratifies that the Brazilian industry com-
plieswith strict criteria, set forth by law, and
employs one of the best technologies ap-
plied to rice processing. “Our supply chain
does its best to produce safe and high qual-
ity food”, he comments. “The result of the
product that reaches the dinner tables of
the consumers mirrors this effort, this com-
mitment and care we devote to rice, which
is not just a product, but the livelihood of
Applicationofdifferenttreatmentsto
nationalriceandimportedrice,asthelatter
usespesticidesnotregisteredintheMinistryof
Agriculture,givesrisetoconcerninthesector
many people involved in this sector”.
Daire Coutinho, president of the Nation-
al Rice Sectoral Chamber, a division of the
Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food
Supply (Mapa), understands that there is
need for the federal government and An-
visa to normalize the rules about import-
ed rice. “We are going through double
standards. The Brazilian rice fields are not
allowed to apply a series of chemical prod-
ucts not allowed by the Ministry of Agricul-
ture, but the Mercosur countries and even
Asian countries use theseproductswithout
being registered and there is no effective
sanitary inspection, or rules strict enough
to prevent this rice from entering the Bra-
zilianmarket”, he warns.
In his understanding, it is not a question
of market, but public health. “There is need
to take measures towards protecting the
qualityof thecereal. After thecereal ismixed
with our national rice and reaches the mar-
ket, it gets much more difficult to keep the
situation under control”, he argues.
Double
standard
Entities understand that the rules are very strict about national products only
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