Egypt to work with FAO on wheat ergot legislation

Egypt will work with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on the country's wheat ergot policy, the agriculture ministry said on Monday, one day after the head of Egypt's agriculture quarantine authority was replaced. The ministry said in the statement it would follow a 0.05 percent tolerance policy on ergot, a grains fungus, following the replacement of agriculture quarantine head Saad Moussa, who had been applying a zero tolerance policy on ergot which led to wheat shipments being rejected.

The FAO will be meeting with various parties in Egypt to study the danger of ergot and to develop policy recommendations, which will be used to write legislation, the ministry said.