Egypt reinstates 0.05pct tolerance of ergot fungus in wheat
Ahram Online , Wednesday 21 Sep 2016
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/244384/Business/Economy/Egypt-reinstates-pct-tolerance-of-ergot-fungus-in-.aspx

Egypt’s reversed on Wednesday its zero-tolerance decision for wheat
imports containing ergot fungus, to reinstating a 0.05 percent tolerance
policy, which is a widely applied international standard, Al-Ahram Arabic
news website reported citing the agriculture minister.

In August, the minister Essam Fayed issued a decision to not allow any
imported wheat shipment that contains any traces of the fungus.

The government said on Wednesday that the zero-tolerance policy has led to
the delay in arrival of 540,000 tonnes of the imported grain to Egypt, the
world’s biggest wheat importer, Al-Ahram said.

The Egyptian minister of health Ahmed Emad said today that the imported
wheat has been undergoing a purification process that reduces the presence
of the fungus to zero percent.

Since February, confusion between the state’s grain buyer GASC and the
agricultural authorities over levels of the fungus caused weariness among
suppliers, drivig some of them to boycott tenders.

Egypt's wheat imports for the 2015/16 marketing year were estimated at 11
million tonnes, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
showed in October 2015, "about the same as the previous year and the average
for the last five years."