Importing firm wants redo of tests on Polish wheat shipment

AMMAN — The importing company of the controversial Polish wheat shipment on Wednesday reiterated that it meets national standards, calling for repeating the tests, but the Jordan Food and Drug Administration (JFDA) said it cannot do so.

At a meeting with the press on Wednesday, the general manager of Smart Solutions, Martin Hovhannisyan expressed his objection over the JFDA’s testing procedures, charging that they “violated legal sampling and testing measures”.

“Experts at the Industry and Trade Ministry said the quality of wheat in this shipment is the best that reached Jordan over the past 10 years, but the JFDA rejected the shipment as the six-kilogramme sample included three red grains,” he said.

Hovhannisyan claimed that the JFDA did not provide any further details.

“We demand forming a committee with members from all concerned parties to take new samples and make new tests,” he said, adding that his company “was not allowed to defend its right in proving the shipment’s abidance by technical standard”.

The company’s legal consultant, Bilal Rawashdeh, said regulations stipulate that a one-kilogramme sample be taken from several points in the shipment, including the surface and into a depth of nine metres. However, the sample of this shipment weighted six kilogrammes and was taken only from the surface. 

The allowed percentage of impurity is 15 per cent, while the percentage in the Polish shipment did not exceed 8 per cent, Rawashdeh said, noting that the JFDA did not specify the type of the “claimed” violation.

He said the first test proved the samples to be “clean and clear of odours”, adding that the samples were “of excellent quality” according to the second test.

JFDA Director Hayel Obeidat said the test results revealed that the samples violate technical standards, but are nevertheless fit for human consumption, adding that the administration “will not and is not allowed to repeat its tests”.

“The technical standards require that samples be free of colour. The samples from this shipment included grains with mixed colours,” Obeidat told The Jordan Times over the phone, adding that the shipment is currently red taped under the administration’s custody.

He said the JFDA is a professional national technical institution and that the importing company has the right to file a legal complaint against it in court if it doubts the accuracy of the testing procedures. 

“The Trade Ministry and the importer know the rules, the technical standards and the conditions of the tender,” Obeidat said, adding that the JFDA will refer the case to court to return the shipment to its country of origin 60 days after the date of the test (February 27). 

Officials at the Trade Ministry were not available for comment despite several attempts by The Jordan Times.

The 52,000-tonne shipment, a quantity that covers the Kingdom’s needs of wheat for 20 days, is valued at JD15 million.