Monday, October 20, 2008

TUESDAY-21 OCTOBER 2008- SABAH ALERT ON CHINA VEGETABLES

Sabah alert on China vegetables


KOTA KINABALU:


The Sabah Government is monitoring closely vegetables coming in from China for melamine contamination. Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Yahya Hussin said the move is to ensure that the safety of consumers in the state is guarded at all times. Yahya, who is also State Minister of Agriculture and Food Industries, said that the Ministry is also looking into vegetables produced in the high and low lands to ensure that they do not contain more than the permitted level of pesticide residues. “We are advising the vegetable farmers on the dangers of using more than the permitted amount of pesticides and to also increase their awareness of good agriculture practices (GAP) in all their efforts,” he said during the launch of the Penampang district level Green Earth project at the Datuk Peter Mojuntin secondary school near here, yesterday. Yahya also called on the local people here to grow their own vegetables for their personal use. “Producing our own vegetables will not only have the quality but its safety will be also assured as we know and control the materials that we have used to produce the vegetables,” he said. He also expressed hope that the Green Earth project will not only raise the level of food production in the country but also encourage the people to venture into the agriculture sector in a commercial way. - Bernama