Jamaica yet to make contact with GRBD – General Manager

After some seven weeks after a shipment of rice from Guyana was confiscated in Jamaica for failing to meet human consumption standards, the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) is yet to receive word from the country.
This is according to the General Manager of the GRDB, Nizam Hassan, who told Guyana Times on Wednesday that there has been no communication between his agency and the Jamaican counterpart nor has any information been divulged.
He maintained that the Foreign Affairs Ministry was engaged to possibly resolve the matter but they haven’t received any communication thus far.

“We haven’t heard anything. Like was said, we passed through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in getting the information from the Jamaicans but I don’t think they have received any communication from that side. I can’t say what the expectations will be or when they will communicate,” said Hassan.
Nevertheless, Hassan posited that there has not been any hindrance in the supply of rice, since daily shipments are leaving Guyana.
“We are exporting every day to Jamaica. Guyana continues to export to Jamaica all the time,” he said.
The rice was confiscated by the Ministry of Industries, Agriculture and Fisheries because of high microbial content. According to reports by the Jamaica Observer, the Food Storage and Prevention of Infestation Division of the Ministry impounded some 1575 bags of rice worth millions of dollars.
The grains, which were exported by a local distributor, were inspected and was found to have signs of mould, clumping discolouration and wetting and as such, detained by a food storage inspector.
After being sent to a laboratory for testing, results showed that the rice contained microbial levels which were beyond the accepted limits, thus making it inapt for human consumption.
However, during a press conference, the Board stated that it was being sidelined by Jamaican authorities with regard to obtaining information about recent reports about the alleged shipment.
“We immediately contacted the agency, the Jamaica Food Storage and Prevention of Infestation Division. We contacted them, they reported that they could not give us any information… they have not provided us with any information as I speak to you,” Hassan had said.