'Paan' The Next Item From India EU May Ban

BANGALORE: European Union has already banned Alphonso mangoes from India over fruit fly infestation, the Union may now ban paan or betel leaves from the country as well. The EU is worried over Salmonella contamination of betel leaves from India as the EU’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed warned in its annual report.

Pertaining to the infections, EU already banned the import of betel leaves from Bangladesh earlier this year, which is effective until end of July.The continuing reason since 2011 for the high number of reports on Salmonella is paan leaves.

The continuous reports notified by the UK prompted the adoption of a safeguard measure suspending temporarily imports of paan leaves from Bangladesh and setting up reinforced checks for paan leaves from India and Thailand," the RASFF 2013 annual report said. Salmonella poisoning causes severe diarrhoea and vomiting in humans.

The RASFF has issued 111 notifications or warnings to India on food contamination last year, of which 12 concern curry leaves and 84 'okra' or ladyfinger. "Apart from these findings, also five notifications on chilli peppers are noteworthy with sometimes high levels reported," the report concluded. India also came in as the second highest in terms of overall notifications with 257 in total after China's total of 433.

The EU ban on Alphonso mangoes effective from May 1 had triggered widespread protests, including a petition to the British government to overturn the ban. EU inspectors are now expected in India for an early inspection of the crop in September. Other fruits and vegetables banned included Colocasia (taro, eddo) Momordica sp (bitter gourd), Solanum melongena (eggplant) and Trichosanthes sp (snake gourd). The EU says the decision was taken due to a high number of intercepted consignments containing quarantine pests which could harm European crops.

-With PTI inputs

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