Damascus, SANA_ The Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform has announced that the Syrian citrus fruit crops are almost free of chemicals.
Director of the Ministry’s Citrus Fruits Department, Suheil Hamdan, said that more than 80% of Syrian citrus fruits are free of 116 kinds of chemical materials that are involved in the making of pesticides, fungicides and Herbicides.
Results of several chemical trace analyses for some kind of citrus fruits, taken from one of the certified farms that are committed to the service and control program which has been recommended by the ministry of agriculture for tens of years, show that these fruits are free of all chemical materials that harm health and they are safe and healthy.
He clarified that the tests were conducted in cooperation with the CCPB company, which is registered in Syria to give quality certificates to agricultural products, in one of the accredited laboratories abroad which had obtained the internationally recognized “ISO 17025” certificate.
Hamdan said that the company’s report confirmed that the results were acceptable according to Codex standards and to the EU standards and their amendments and they are even superior to them.
He pointed out that the results confirm the significant role being played by the Ministry of Agriculture through its Integrated Control Program.
Hamdan asserted that foreign marketing companies can benefit from this specification and disseminate it in order to get the great added value of the Syrian citrus product.
CCPB is an inspection and certification body for agrifood and no food products, obtained in organic and eco-friendly production.
Gh.A.Hassoun