Government body questions method to detect pests

With US apples already under scanner for possible pest infections, a key government body responsible for checking the quality of food imports today said that the quarantine mechanism here was too weak to detect infected products.

"We do not have upgraded quarantine facilities in India. We realise the potential threat of pests entering through imports into India. However, lack of manpower and researchers in the specific area stop us from carrying extensive study on all products," Head of Plant Quarantine Division, National Bureau of Plant and Genetic Resources (NBPGR), Dr R K Khetrapal said.

He said Pest Risk Analysis (PRA), which is a precondition for imports under WTO, is not easy to conduct. Not all pests can be detected by the naked eye or with the help of magnifying glass or stereoscopic binocular microscope. Some pests go unnoticed due to lack of superior technology in India.

"PRA is done methodologically and the approach varies from product to product. It is not possible to carry PRA on every commodity," Khetrapal said, adding we have so far done PRA studies on soyabean, wheat, walnut, mango, pea, thick pea and lentil.

"We cannot carry PRA on apples with only two or three research organisations," he added. PRA is taken seriously only when controversies arise on quality of imported commodities, experts said. A case in point being the recent wheat import from the US which was rejected after a PRA found that the imported grain was of poor quality and contained weed.