The spokesman for Egypt’s Agriculture Ministry Eid Hawash said Friday that his country won’t allow any shipment of wheat that contains even the slightest percent of the “carcinogen” ergot fungus. Hawash stressed, during a phone-in with the “Sa’aa mn Masr” (Hour from Egypt) talk show on satellite channel al-Ghad, that Egypt has received no shipments containing ergot fungus. In July, Egypt said it would accept imported wheat shipments containing a 0.05 percent level of ergot, a common international standard, settling a dispute with suppliers that had hampered the country's massive purchasing program. And a month later Egypt reinstated the ban on wheat shipments containing 0.05 percent of ergot amount of ergot, baffling traders who had returned to the Egyptian market just last month when the ban was lifted. The spokesman for Egypt’s Agriculture Ministry said last night that all shipments coming from Russia and containing ergot have been rejected out of fears on general health of Egyptians.

Source: Egypt Independent September 17, 2016 12:00 UTC