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 Iran Pistachio Exporter Dismisses EU Cancer Fears
Reuters; May 26, 2004, 11:43
EU ports have blocked several pistachio shipments from Iran, the world's top producer, but an Iranian exporter dismissed fears about traces of a cancer-causing chemical contaminating the nuts as scaremongering.
Pistachios are Iran's top non-oil export and an inescapable table-top nibble across the Islamic Republic. But Brussels asserts some of the reddish-green nuts from Iran have too much aflatoxin, a carcinogen produced by a fungus that grows on them in certain conditions. Reza Sedaghat, managing director of the Dorchin pistachio company, said the EU message was damaging although Iran's exports to Europe had dwindled to some 10 percent of total shipments, from nearly 70 percent a decade ago. "This is very bad news," he told Reuters on Tuesday.
"The signal given is more important than the actual market," added Sedaghat, the son of a pistachio farmer from the southeast town of Rafsanjan, Iran's pistachio capital. Iran dispatches the salty, split-shelled nuts, supposedly the Queen of Sheba's preferred aphrodisiac, across the world, from China to South America. EU officials in Brussels said they were pressuring imports to make Iran smarten up its health regulations but had not yet threatened a ban. "We are finding a high level of aflatoxin. It is very difficult to control so the number of alerts are very high," said a European Commission spokeswoman, who added every pistachio consignment from Iran was being tested.
Sedaghat said EU aflatoxin measurements were ill-conceived. He said he, in line with U.S. standards, would give the green light to batches with between 10 and 15 parts per billion (PPB) aflatoxin content. He said an EU threshold of four PPB was hypersensitive and resulted from some confusion in Brussels about the product. Pistachios are picked, roasted and packaged, but Brussels did not class them as a product that had been "handled", by which definition they would be allowed an aflatoxin content of up to 15 PPB. He added Iranian researchers had found no link between cancer and voracious pistachio consumption.
"Do not be afraid," he said, pushing forward a bowl of nuts. Despite problems with the European Union, Sedaghat saw growth potential for exports, even in the United States, itself a major pistachio producer from Californian groves. Quoting Agriculture Ministry figures, he said annual exports had leapt to about 207,000 tons in the year to March 2004, from about 150,000 tons a year earlier.
State media reported the increase meant pistachios leapfrogged carpets as Iran's top non-oil export. Sedaghat explained newly planted trees would lift production to nearer 400,000 tons in the next decade from about 240,000 at present. He is besieged by emails from the United States seeking the unique taste of Iranian nuts but current tariffs make trade impractical.
Pistachios, like caviar and carpets, are exempt from a U.S. trade embargo. Nuts swallowed up by Iran's domestic market are often used in confectionery such as baklava and ice-creams. Persian folklore says lovers trysting under pistachio trees by night will be blessed if they hear the nuts popping open. "Just not true, you cannot hear a thing," said Sedaghat.
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