Is there a price to be paid for the import of low cost wheat from Russia and the Ukraine, wonders Reem Leila Egypt, the world's second largest wheat importer, is currently embroiled in a very public controversy over whether or not large quantities of the wheat it does import is fit for human consumption. Allegations and counter-allegations have appeared across the media, with charges being made and then denied. So what is actually happening? The truth of the matter is that no one seems to know. What no one disputes is that in recent years there has been a shift away from reliance on US grown grain, which currently sells at $204 a tonne, and towards wheat grown in Russia and the Ukraine, which sells on international markets at between $140 and $180 a tonne. Unfortunately Ukrainian and Russian wheat tends to be void of gluten and proteins, a result of the colder temperatures in which it is grown. According to Mustafa Shedid, deputy chairman of Qalioubiya governorate local council, huge quantities of flour milled from this wheat has found its way into subsidised and private bakeries, and through them, into millions of loaves. "The wheat has been ground and baked into the governorate's daily production of more than 12 million baladi [flat] and fino loaves a day," says Shedid, who claims the grain is fit only as animal fodder. The General Agency for Supply Commodities (GASC) denies allegations that the grain is not suitable for human consumption. The GASC, which operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, issued a press release stating that Egyptian purchases of wheat on the open market meet all international and national standards. Imports of wheat from Ukraine and Russia, it continued, account for only 25 per cent of total imports, with the remaainder made up of wheat from the United States, Kazakhstan, France, Canada, the UK, Spain, Italy and India. Jordan, points out GASC, has been importing wheat from the Ukraine and Russia for years with no problems. "Egypt is still receiving Russian and Ukrainian wheat and there will be a real problem facing private and public bakeries after three months when stocks of Egyptian wheat ends," says Shedid. Currently, the low grade Russian and Ukrainian wheat is supposed to be mixed with higher quality Egyptian grain to make up for any shortcomings. The average annual per capita consumption of wheat, according to Maged Othman, a member of the National Population Council, is 180.5 kilogrammes, which means Egypt needs more than 15 million tonnes of wheat annually to feed its population. It produces 6.5 million tonnes, importing the shortfall of 8.5 million tonnes. Salah Hilal, professor at the Agricultural Research Centre (ARC), says that the lack of gluten and protein in wheat grown in cold climates sometimes means that bakers cannot form a cohesive dough. To combat the problem the GASC, together with the Ministry of Social Solidarity, ordered bakeries to mix the Ukrainian and Russian wheat with locally produced grain. It is a strategy that cannot compensate for the fact that impurities in imported flour, or so Hilal claims, average up to seven per cent per tonne as opposed to the one per cent permissible under national and international standards. "The wheat isn't really fit for humans. It won't harm them. It's just not nutritious," he says. Hisham Ragab, legal advisor to the minister of trade and industry, blames the whole furore on disgruntled middlemen who have been spreading false rumours. Imported Ukrainian wheat, he says, is modified before milling. "It is mixed with other wheat, either local or imported from the US. This has been common practice for a long time, and is supervised by the Ministry of Social Solidarity." Mohamed Said, head of the Ministry of Health and Population's food control department, adds that "samples of the imported wheat have been tested at the ministry's labs and found fit for human consumption. They are void of fungus, bugs, heavy metals and pesticides. The tested samples were all in accordance with the Egyptian standards." Gawdat El-Malt, chairman of the Central Auditing Organisation (CAO), formed a committee on 12 November to investigate the questions raised over imported grain.
