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Britain okays Pak rice, rejects Indian Pusa
LAHORE,Mrach 30: British rice importers have
accepted 51 varieties of Pakistani rice and
rejected three Indian varieties from approved
list.
Sources disclosed here on Monday that Pusa variety
is the largest exported rice the world over in the
name of Basmati by Indian exporters, which has
been removed from the list.
A meeting of British rice importers, held on March
17, accepted all 51 varieties presented by the
Rice Research Institute (RRI), Kala Shah Kaku, as
‘Basmati’.
However, DNA testing has pushed the Indian Basmati
rice variety of ‘Pusa’ out of the approved list,
thus decreasing competition for Pakistani produce
in the British as well as European market.
Grain and Food Traders Association (GAFTA) of
United Kingdom - a group of British rice importers
- has accepted all 51 traditional varieties of
rice while pushing at least three Indian varieties
including renowned Pusa variety out of the
approved varieties.
The sources said that despite frequent requests
from the committee, the Indian exporters could not
provide samples for DNA testing. Yet the tests of
the available variety proved that Indian variety
Tarori had the same feature of Pakistani variety
‘Super fine’. Similarly, Indian variety Dera Doon
has the same feature of Pakistani variety Kernal.
The meeting was attended by all the stakeholders
from the private sector. The sources claimed that
it was a private sector’s meeting and governments
of any of these three countries - UK, India and
Pakistan - were not invited. Therefore, Indian
government’s representatives decided not to sit in
the meeting.
The Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP)
was represented by its president Barrister Syed
Najaf Shah.
GAFTA Code, which would govern the import and
trade of rice in UK and may be followed by the
European Union (EU), will be prepared by Food
Standard Agency (FSA) along with GAFTA in
consultation with REAP and All India Rice
Exporters Association (AIREA).
Pakistan government contingent included Tariq Puri,
Vice Chairman, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB);
Anjum Bashir, Commercial Councillor, Pakistan High
Commission, London; Muhammad Mushtaq Chaudhry,
Director (RRI) Kala Shah Kaku; Zahid W. Khawaja,
Brown Rice Exporter and Faisal Hassan Brown Rice
Exporter from Pakistan.
The meeting considered the record produced by RRI
officials and found it authentic, which lead to
acceptance of 51 varieties of Land Races of
Pakistan. It was decided that the varieties, for
which samples had not been provided, would be
removed from the list of approved varieties from
15 to 12.
It was also accepted that the varieties, of which
samples had been received by FSA, would not be
subject to any further inquiry and the list would
become final.
In case the quantity of broken grains was to
exceed 20 to 25 per cent the product would not be
permitted to be called Basmati.
Inclusion of 51 heritage land races (HLR), which
includes Basmati 370 and 6 other varieties Kernal
Basmati, plus 5 Indian varieties including Basmati
217, Basmati 386, Deradun Type 3, Ranbir Basmati (IET
11348) and Taraori (Karnel Local, HBC-19). The
said 6 varieties including Karnel Basmati are not
accepted as HLR. However, it was conceded that
they could parent new varieties.
We agreed to provide any further documentation
required by FSA on the issue of 51 HLR.
The News International, Pakistan |
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Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
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