Contact or no contact? In October 2022, the French Health Security Agency (Anses) banned the spreading of phosphine directly on foodstuffs. The insecticide, used on cereals, presents health risks if it is not very well evacuated. Problem: this decision could harm French imports, because some countries apply contrary standards. Algeria, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, or even Egypt and Morocco impose fumigation – release of the insecticide by smoke – in direct contact with foodstuffs, and would therefore refuse new shipments.
A puzzle, for the Ministry of Agriculture, in charge of the case: “We are doing everything we can to allow exports to continue. It is a question of world food security and the whole of the government is fully mobilized”, declared Marc Fesneau this Tuesday, April 11, at the National Assembly. The government has until April 25 to find a solution.
After this period, the decision of ANSES will come into force, which would have “absolutely major economic consequences for the cereal sector”, recognized Marc Fesneau, still before the deputies. Every year 11.5 million tons of cereals are exported by France, or 3.8 billion euros in its trade balance. Taking advantage of the decrease in exports from Ukraine and Russia because of the war, France is now the 4th exporter of wheat in the world.
The government will bypass ANSES
Faced with the concern of deputies and farmers, the government decided to circumvent the ANSES ban: “France will continue to export cereals. It does so within the framework of European law which makes it possible to derogate from the ‘prohibition […] at the request of the importing countries”, indicated Marc Fesneau. “There are still legal clarifications to be made, but I can guarantee you that by April 25, decisions will be made so that exports can continue “, said for his part Olivier Becht, the Minister Delegate in charge of Foreign Trade.
Until now, insecticide tablets have been placed directly on grain loads. Although it is technically possible to carry out the fumigation indirectly by placing the tablets in a box or pierced bag, this process is refused by certain third countries, which consider that they do not have the capacity to reprocess packaging considered to be toxic waste.
Why such a decision by ANSES? “All of the (insecticide) residue trials sent by the requestor were for a protocol where the product is never put directly into the grain. We therefore only validated these protocols,” AFP told AFP. Charlotte Grastilleur, Deputy Director General of the regulated products division of ANSES. The institution explains that it can only review its decision in the event of “new scientific fact”, which is not the case here according to it.