AMMAN — Australian food and
drugs authorities are expected to share with Jordan their final analysis of
Medjool dates samples suspected of being the cause for at least three cases of
Hepatitis A, discovered recently in
New South Wales (NSW).
اضافة اعلان
Minister of Agriculture
Khalid Al-Hneifat said that since Saturday and Sunday are a holiday, the
results will likely be ready on Monday, stating the final scientific opinion on
the suspected contamination.
On Friday, the minister was
quoted as saying in a statement that the ministry was following on a decision
by the Australian decision to ban Jordanian dates after initial analysis linked the cases
to others found previously in the UK, where Jordan-grown dates were suspected
of causing the illness.
A media statement by NSW’s
health and food authorities on Friday said tests carried on the three cases
found a previously non-existent strain of Hepatitis A, the same found in UK,
and advised consumers to not eat the fruit and to watch for symptoms if they already
have.
Officials in Amman insisted
that the tests were not final and did not consider the press release an
official document, pending the actual test results due this week.
A microbiologist familiar
with the case told
Jordan News on condition of anonymity that the same shipment
was tested in Jordan before it left and all indications showed that it was safe
for human consumption.
The tests were carried out in
both government-run and internationally accredited private laboratories, he
said, and the results did not carry any sign of bacterial fecal contamination,
which is, in turn, an indicator of possible hepatitis A contamination.
The expert said that even if
there were viruses in fruit, they cannot reproduce in this environment and will
die in three days.
Anwar Haddad, head of the
Jordanian Dates Association, said that Jordanian dates began entering Australia
in 2017, in small quantities, stressing that the recent decision to withdraw
them from the market came as a precautionary measure, pending a final decision.
Haddad confirmed that dates
go through the first stages of sorting, washing, tamping, sterilization and
packaging.
He added that the Jordanian
market is promising and the competition is strong, noting that Jordan exports 7,000
tons annually to the world, out of its annual production of 15,000 tons. Media
spokesman at the Ministry of Agriculture Lawrence Al-Majali said that Jordanian
dates “cover 14 percent of the global market’s demand and are of high quality.”
Director of Medjool
Village Company for the production of dates, Joud Al-Nabulsi, urged speedy
completion of the tests because the longer time they take, the more harm is
inflicted on the reputation of the Jordanian date products.
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