Brazil says coffee stocks toxin-free so far

BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) -- Brazil's Agriculture Ministry said Wednesday it had found no trace of the ocratoxin A fungal microtoxin in 90 percent of the government's coffee stocks and denied talk that it had planned to burn any beans.

"We've already conducted tests on 90 percent (of the government's total stocks) and we have not found any indication of contamination," said Miguel Bueno, spokesman for Brazil's Agriculture Minister Marcus Vinicius Pratini de Moraes.

"Now if we were to find anything, it would be burned, that's true. But there is nothing to indicate that there is any contamination now. There is no plan (to burn stocks)," he told Reuters. "This whole thing about 400,000 bags is a lie."

Bueno was referring to stories in the Brazilian media on Wednesday saying the government was poised to burn some 400,000 60-kg bags of its official stocks which were contaminated with ocratoxin A, a mold toxin sometimes detected in raw coffee.

He added that ministry scientists were still analyzing the rest of the stocks, currently around six million bags, and were likely to complete tests next week. Brazil, the world's largest coffee grower, has an average crop of 30 million bags a year.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

See related sites about FOOD

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.