The battle to maintain 0.05% ergot rule continues

The battle to maintain 0.05% ergot rule continues: The government filed an appeal against last month’s Administrative Court verdict that ordered the suspension of a food inspection system which could potentially see the return of the zero-tolerance rule on ergot-contaminated wheat imports, Supply Minister Ali El Moselhy told Reuters on Saturday. The court had ruled last month that responsibility for wheat inspection be transferred back to the Agriculture Ministry’s quarantine body — the architect of Egypt’s ergot ban last year — from the General Organization for Export and Import Control. State grain purchaser the General Authority for Supply Commodities had repeatedly insisted that the zero-tolerance policy, which racked international grain markets last year, was not coming back despite the ruling as both the ministries of supply and agriculture are in agreement on the current policy.