Vegetables, Groundnuts and Dried Fruits Top List

KUALA LUMPUR: Chinese food imports such as vegetables, groundnuts and dried fruits are on the Health Ministry’s watch list.

Vegetables from China often have high residual amounts of pesticides because of their farmers’ practice of harvesting their produce early to meet demand in Malaysia and Singapore.

Some consignments of groundnuts have been found covered with a fungus that produces a cancer-causing toxin called aflatoxin.

“This fungus has been known to grow on the produce when it is not handled properly after harvest,” said ministry food quality and safety division director, Dr Abdul Rahim Mohamad.

“It will cause the groundnuts to darken and become mouldy.”

Groundnuts from India are also on the watch list for the same reason.

Also on the list are Chinese dried fruits, which are often laced with cyclamate, a non-nutritive sweetener that some studies have shown to be carcinogenic.

“Cyclamate is allowed in their country, but not in Malaysia,” Dr Rahim said.

The list of banned Chinese food products was not immediately available, but Dr Rahim said the number was “sizeable”.

In November 2005, canned fish from China came under his division’s scrutiny when Hong Kong sounded the alarm that there was excessive amount of malachite green in them.

“But the public need not be worried about what they’re getting now. We are working closely with the Customs Department to ensure that products not fit for human consumption don’t get in.”

Dr Rahim’s division also holds dialogues with the Chinese embassy in Malaysia to ensure the safety and quality of Chinese foods entering the country.

Foods imported here must comply with the Malaysian Food Act 1983 and Food Regulations 1985. Local authorities use an online system called the Food Safety Information of Malaysia System (Fosim) to monitor the movement of foods into the country.

It is an IT network system that links up major food entry points with the Health Ministry’s Food Safety and Quality laboratories.

It is integrated with the Customs’ information system.

“Customs will refer all food consignments to us and we will process them using Fosim,” said Dr Rahim.

There are six levels of monitoring activities outlined under Fosim, from auto-clearance to auto-rejection, but no product has ever been auto-cleared.

Since January 2005, all meat and edible offal, poultry and seafood (including aqua-cultured prawns and shrimps) are required to be declared free from the antibiotic chloramphenicol, which is known to cause aplastic anaemia.

At the same time, they must be free from nitrofuran (another known carcinogen) and Beta-agonist, a medicine for asthma patients which can cause anxiety and faster heart rates.

From last December, groundnuts coming into the country need to have health certificates, with content analysis on the level of aflatoxin.

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