US FDA puts Hyderabad firm’s rice on pesticide import alert

The FDA lists two products against the firm: processed and packaged jasmine rice, and processed packaged rice.

Hyderabad: A Hyderabad-based rice exporter’s products can now be held at United States ports without inspection, after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) flagged them over residues of the pesticide chlorpyrifos.

Canvas Ventures was added to the “Red List” under the India section of FDA Import Alert 99-08 on Tuesday, September 15, according to The Times of India. The alert covers processed food products that appear to contain unsafe pesticide residues.

The FDA lists two products against the firm: processed and packaged jasmine rice, and processed packaged rice. Both are described as white rice, and chlorpyrifos is named as the pesticide of concern in each entry.

FDA records give the company’s address as Raghavendra Colony in Kondapur, along with a second address in Secunderabad.

What the listing means

A place on the Red List allows FDA officers to detain the named products without physical examination when they are offered for entry into the US. The listing applies only to the white rice products identified in the entries, not to the company’s entire range.

The public record does not disclose the brand name, batch or lot number, quantity, US importer, port of entry or the date the samples were taken. It also does not say how much chlorpyrifos was found.

The entries do not make clear whether Canvas Ventures grew or milled the rice, or only exported it.