Lahore: First food irradiation plant to start in Jan, expected to improve exports

[Naveed Yaseen]

* Irradiation treatment benefits to dry fruits and dehydrated food storage and eliminating insect infestation

By Razi Syed
Country’s first food irradiation plant, a joint venture of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and the Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Board (PHDEB), will start functioning during the second half of January 2009.

The dry run of the plant, located at Lahore, will start food irradiation services to stakeholders to help improve country’s horticulture exports, PHDEB chief executive, Shamoon Sadiq said Monday.

He said PARAS Foods (Pvt) Ltd is the first food irradiation private limited company of the country and would provide facilities for enhancing the shelf life of perishable commodities.

“It would help improve exports of country’s agricultural commodities by helping exporters in meeting quarantine requirements of developed countries.

The irradiation treatment would benefit all fruits and vegetables including mangoes, dates, pears and strawberries. It would also end the needs to add fumigants for storage purposes as fumigants are internationally banned under environmental treaty named Montreal Protocol.

Sindh director for Agribusiness Support Fund (ASF), Appraisal Committee and chairman Fruit and Vegetable Processors and Exporters Association (FVPEA), Mateen Siddiqui said: “This would be highly beneficial in reducing microbial load and improving quality of food.” He added, “It will help in opening the US market for the export of mangoes, as food irradiation was approved in 2007 as phytosanitory treatment between the United States Department of Agriculture and Ministry of Agriculture Pakistan.”

This technology is blessing for Pakistan, where poor food handling practices and sanitation arrangements always contribute to the multiple food borne illnesses.

He said potatoes and onions would also benefit as irradiation adds value to both crops by inhibiting sprouting and prolonging shelf life of these commodities.

The irradiation services will also benefit pulses, nuts, rice protein, dried herbs, spices and condiments for pest elimination, cereals, ready to cook food, insect infestation and improving shelf life of these commodities. The dry fruits and dehydrated food is also the one where irradiation treatment gives great benefit for their storage and eliminating insect infestation.

“If we move professionally and meet quarantine requirements, we can grab the market volumes as we are already meeting the Iranian Plant Protection Organisation requirements of conforming the installation of data loggers in the cold storages.”

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...008_pg5_10