After carrying out a series of routine tests on 15 Egyptian crops that were imported to the UAE, the UAE’s Ministry of Climate Change and Environment has decided to ban some Egyptian crops from entering the country.
This happened due to tests indicating that the Egyptian-based crops actually contained extremely dangerous levels of pesticides. The ban includes several crops: cabbage, zucchini, lettuce, eggplants, and all types of peppers.
UAE’s ban also encompasses certain crops imported from a wide range of countries including, Jordanian beans; Lebanese apples; and watercress, lemons, and carrots from Oman.
Kuwait has also followed suit and added Jordanian lettuce, and Egyptian onions and guava to this list of banned items.
Accordingly, the Kuwaiti Minister for Trade & Manufacture passed laws that now require all countries with products that have been banned from producing documentation, which proves that all other products meet required international standards.
The UAE has also produced a law demanding the exact same documentation from the blacklisted countries. Moreover, the UAE’s ban is not the first of its kind faced by Egypt. Indeed, over the past few months, several countries have either completely stopped or paused importing crops from Egypt, due to health concerns raised by these countries over the safety and quality of Egyptian import.
Sudan, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the USA, and Russia have all found that Egypt’s food and agricultural imports often do not meet basic global standards.