EU frames new rules for basmati rice imports
By Noshad Ali
LAHORE: Dr Mark Woolfe, director of the Food Standard Agency (FSA) of the European Union, has finalized a Code of Practice on Basmati Rice which is a new code for rice imports to the EU and the FSA has sent new code to local traders soliciting their comments.
Formal approval for the new code is expected to be given by the working group in next meeting that would held on May 14 at London.
Sources said a meeting was held in London on March 17, attended by representatives of the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP), Export Promotion Bureau and All India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA).
According to new rules, ‘Product of Pakistan’ could only be written on basmati rice pack or bags if it includes at-least 97 percent of basmati grains of the same country.
The basmati would be considered in which there would 93 percent pure basmati grain and the consignment would not be cleared if there would be more than 25 percent broken grains in the basmati consignment.
Industry sources said that from a list of around 73 new varieties sent for approval, Pakistan would be able to export around 52 different historical land race (HLR) basmati varieties in the future whereas around 20 more varieties could further be included in the permission list for Pakistan if it will provide documentation or record that those 20 varieties belongs to the same land.
“Indian Basmati that was presented to be the supreme quality basmati before the world is as same as Pakistani basmati and now India would only be able to export its six varieties to the EU,” a source said.
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