PETALING JAYA: Durian lovers in Singapore need not fret.
Malaysia’s Musang King or Mao Shan Wang durians on sale in the republic are safe, says the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), the Straits Times reported.
Recently, there has been much speculation that durians have high levels of insecticide.
Nasty WhatsApp messages had claimed 20 containers of Musang King durians sent to China had been rejected and sent back to Malaysia due to alleged high insecticide content.
They claimed these durians were now being “sold cheaply”.
Following the viral messages, the organisers of a durian festival in Nanning called on the authorities to investigate who was behind this malicious campaign.
They stated that whole durians were still prohibited from entering China and such speculation would harm efforts by durian producers to increase fruit exports to the country.
Malaysia is only allowed to export processed durians, that are usually frozen, to China.
In a Facebook post last night, the Singapore food safety authority said durians in Singapore were safe to eat.
“Some durian lovers have come across rumours about high levels of insecticide in Malaysia’s Musang King durians, and asked if it is safe to consume durians imported from Malaysia,” AVA said.
It said it regularly inspects and conducts sampling of imported fruits, including durians.
This is to ensure the fruits comply with food safety standards.
Samples were tested for pesticide residues, microbial contamination and other possible non-permitted chemicals.
Those that do not make the cut are not allowed for sale.
Fama director-general Ahmad Ishak said last month that the export of Musang King durians last year had surged to RM60 million compared with RM33 million in the previous year.
He added that Fama was targeting RM70 million in durian exports to China.
“We expect exports to China to increase 10% by the end of this year,” he said.
‘Probe malicious viral messages of durians turned back from China’