Lebanese health ministry refers contaminated wheat import case to prosecutor

BEIRUT — Lebanon's public health ministry referred a case of contaminated Russian wheat imports to a branch of the public prosecutor's office on Tuesday, the state news agency said, following a dispute with the economy ministry over test results showing unacceptable levels of a toxin.

Public Health Minister Wael Abu Faour has said tests carried out by his ministry in February showed unacceptable levels of a carcinogenic substance, ochratoxin, in wheat imports from Russia.

This led Abu Faour last Wednesday to call for a ban on wheat imports, Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported, although no ban has been announced.

Abu Faour has now referred the case to a branch of the public prosecutor, the NNA said.

No information was given on the size of the problematic wheat shipment or the suppliers involved.

The ministry of public health said it tested a wheat batch from Russia and one from the United States on February 24. Five of 12 samples from the Russian wheat showed 26 microgrammes of ochratoxins per kilogramme, breaching the Lebanese safety level of 5 microgrammes per kilogramme. The US wheat was found to be safe.

Tests on one batch of wheat on February 12 showed four of seven samples breached acceptable ochratoxin limits at 15 microgrammes per kilogramme. The origin of this wheat was not mentioned in the statement published by the ministry on March 16.

But the ministry of economy and trade said on Friday its own tests on 13 samples of wheat stored in Beirut port found nothing wrong with them, adding it regularly tested on foodstuffs.

On Tuesday it submitted its own filing to the public prosecutor, requesting new samples be taken from Port Beirut, overseen by the public prosecutor's office, to be tested at Lebanon's Industrial Research Institute.

Ochratoxins can be carcinogenic if they build up in the body, Abu Faour said in a statement.