Ergot redux?

Ergot… again? An administrative court struck down a government decree transferring responsibility for inspecting agricultural imports from the Agriculture Ministry's quarantine body to the Trade Ministry, Reuters reported. This could mean that Egypt will return to the zero-tolerance policy for ergot in grain shipments, which caused severe disruption to wheat supplies. “The zero-tolerance policy led to suppliers shunning state tenders and effectively cut off Egypt's access to global grain markets,” Reuters notes.

Egypt’s limit for forgot remains at 0.05%, and that the current policy remains in place, said the Agriculture Ministry's spokesperson on Tuesday, Reuters notes, potentially foreshadowing a bureaucratic (and legal) showdown over the policy. For the record, the UN FAO’s Codex Alimentarius allows for up to 0.05% ergot in wheat shipments.