Is Egypt slipping back onto the GCC’s radar for sub-standard produce? Kuwait’s Public Authority for Food and Nutrition will extend its heightened alert status on agricultural imports from Egypt for another three months, after it found high levels of pesticides from Egyptian imports, the authority said in a tweet on Sunday. This would mean that imports of Egyptian goods will be under added scrutiny and will be subject to lab testing and identifying Egyptian companies that are sending the goods. This comes a few days after Saudi Arabia’s Environment, Water and Agriculture Ministry imposed a temporary import ban on Egyptian onions “after it was proven that Egyptian onions exceeded the global residue limits of pesticides.” Egypt had made strides over the past few years to reverse a host of bans by regional and other countries over the quality of produce.

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