Egypt appoints new head of agriculture quarantine authority

Egypt's Ministry of Agriculture has named a new head for its quarantine authority as part of a ministerial restructuring plan aimed at improving performance, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

The position has been assigned to Ahmed Embabi, the head of research at the ministry's Agriculture Research Centre, instead of the outgoing chairman Saad Moussa.

Contradictions over Egypt's policy on ergot fungus levels in wheat shipments stirred controversy after the rejection of a 63,000-tonne shipment from France in December.

Officials at the agriculture ministry had claimed that Egypt had a zero-tolerance policy for the presence of the fungus in its imported wheat, while the state's grain buyer maintained that it accepted the internationally agreed upon 0.05 percent limit.

The confusion has caused weariness among suppliers, who boycotted a wheat purchase tender last month, and Egypt later called off another tender after receiving higher-than-usual prices from the four bidders who participated.

Supply minister Khaled Hanafy said in February that Egypt would approve imported wheat shipments that pass quality tests in the country of origin.