The Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture (MEWA) and the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) have denied what is being circulated that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia accepts food products rejected in Europe or other countries, due to pesticide residues or any other reasons related to the safety of products.
Both MEWA and SFDA have stressed that they implement the "maximum limits regulations" on pesticide residues for countering diseases affecting agricultural and food products to ensure their safety for human consumption.
They added that these regulations are in conformity with the legislations issued by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), which have placed the limits on pesticide residues in conformity with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN).
In a related development, the "Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues" (JMPR) is an expert ad hoc body administered jointly by FAO and WHO with the purpose of harmonizing the requirement and the risk assessment on pesticide residues. The JMPR has met annually since 1963 to conduct scientific evaluations of pesticide residues in food.
The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture (MEWA) and the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) call upon all to verify circulated news that has not been released by any official source. They reiterated that they should take the news from the authentic official sources only.
MEWA and SFDA stress that the safety of all products, including agricultural and food products, is a top priority for all government authorities.
