22 food consignments to South Sudan declared safe for consumption

David Livingstone Ebiru, UNBS Executive Director revealed (newvision.co.ug)

A total of 22 food consignments that were destined for the South Sudanese market but were rejected on grounds that they had high levels of aflatoxins have passed the test and been declared fit for human consumption.

On Friday, the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) executive director, David Livingstone Ebiru confirmed tests carried out on 22 consignments found acceptable limits of aflatoxins, while only five were declared unfit for human consumption.

Ebiru said the majority of the failures were on the maize grain. He appealed to farmers and dealers to embrace value addition and convert the grain into maize flour as a means of minimising exposure to toxins.

“Eight of the trucks were carrying consignments of maize grain, however, four out of the eight failed because they had the highest levels of aflatoxins. Of the 12 consignments of maize flour, only one failed and that shows you that when value addition is done on our maize, it minimises the level of aflatoxins.

“We had two consignments of beans, three consignments of sorghum, one of cassava flour, and one of millet that passed and the aflatoxin levels were within the acceptable levels,” he explained.

Ebiru said the consignments that had passed the test would be released to the owners for further management and the five consignments that had failed will not be allowed to leave.

“We shall be taking further action on how to manage them going forward, including an analysis of how they made it across the border without UNBS certification,” he said.

Over 90 trucks transporting cereals and other food products from Uganda were in May impounded by South Sudanese authorities over allegations that the food consignments contained unacceptable levels of aflatoxins.

“There were quite several trucks, those within the border area of Nimule and also deep inside South Sudan. The report we are giving is the analysis of those that were nearby which were handed to us last weekend. There were 23 trucks, but we are still expecting 66 trucks to come to the border,” Ebiru said.

“These results are not meant to settle any trade dispute or undermine the capacity of our brothers in South Sudan. They are specifically for our use and lessons for us, especially our private sector, to ensure that going forward, we must comply with the required standard both for the domestic market and for exports,” he added.

The tests

Ebiru said while doing the tests, they followed the set standards for the various commodities that were loaded on the 23 trucks.

“The 23 trucks were carrying 27 different consignments. Therefore, we sampled 27 commodities from the 23 trucks. The commodities that were loaded included maize grain, maize flour, dry beans, sorghum, cassava flour, and millet grains,” he stated.

Ebiru said each of the commodities has East African standards that have been harmonised for application by all the EA member states.

“These standards are also benchmarked to international standards, and we are, therefore, saying once we have certified our products against these standards, they should freely be traded across the region and internationally,” he added.

The UNBS boss said the issue at hand was to ascertain aflatoxins. Aflatoxins are certain fungi that grow in cereals and can cause cancer.

“We have four different categories of aflatoxins. We have aflatoxin B1, B2, G1 and G2. Of those four, aflatoxin B1 is the most dangerous and high-risk. Our priority was first of all to establish the presence of aflatoxin B1 which we can’t allow to be in any of the foods we eat because of its toxicity and ability to cause cancer,” Ebiru said.

He urged the traders dealing with the supply of maize commodities to comply with the requirements of safety and quality standards.

“They have felt the implications of not dealing with quality products in the last two months of the impasse between us and South Sudan. UNBS will be intensifying its compliance monitoring on commodities being traded on the market to enforce compliance with the required standards,” Ebiru added.

Trade state minister Harriet Ntabazi noted that they would engage farmers on how to handle products at the farm and best post-harvest practices, among others.

“As a government, we are looking at the infrastructure such as putting in place warehouses and silos for proper storage,” Ntabazi said.

Stephen Asiimwe, the chief executive director of the Private Sector Foundation Uganda, thanked the leadership of Uganda and South Sudan for having stepped in and allowed the ease of trade between the two countries.

“As PSFU and Uganda Grain Council, we want to pledge our support towards ensuring that we shall have qualitative standards that will ensure we have a competitive product,” Asiimwe said.

The release of the trucks follows the intervention of the chairperson of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID), Odrek Rwabwogo, who last week led a joint delegation from Uganda to Elegu-Nimule border to engage with the South Sudanese team.

The delegation comprised officials from ministries of trade, foreign affairs, and East African affairs, UNBS, Uganda Revenue Authority, and Private Sector Foundation representatives.