Millers reject call for ban on pre-harvest glyphosate

The UK flour milling industry says food safety is paramount and customers have nothing to fear from pre-harvest applications of glyphosate on wheat.

It follows calls by the pro-organic Soil Association for a ban on pre-harvest applications of the agrochemical on milling wheat.

Nabim, which represents the UK flour milling industry, convened a meeting of its customers and trade associations to discuss the issue on Monday (25 June).

See also: Soil Association accused of glyphosate scaremongering

Rejecting the call for a glyphosate ban, Nabim trade policy manager Martin Savage said: “Any agrochemical that is approved for a crop has gone through the necessary hurdles.”

As well as being a broad-spectrum herbicide, glyphosate is used in the UK before harvest to help ripen
the crop, control weeds and to curb the emergence of weeds in the following season.

Crops managed using this pre-harvest method include oilseed rape and cereals.

Mr Savage said the aim of the meeting was to bring all the main players in the same room so they could all understand the industry’s position on milling wheat.

The Soil Association campaign had “caused noise” among retailers and consumers, acknowledged Mr Savage, but glyphosate remained a key chemical for farmers.

Maximum residue levels

Pre-harvest applications of glyphosate on milling wheat should not be seen an issue because any residues were way below maximum residue levels (MRLs), he added.

“From the point of view of Nabim, which is an evidence-based organisation, that means the debate has moved into the realms of politics.”

Farmers who produced milling wheat used glyphosate responsibly, said Mr Savage. “Any residues are so far below the MRLs to not be of concern.”

Glyphosate has been the subject of controversy since the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded it was a “probable” carcinogen.

A report by the European Food Safety Authority has since ruled that the agrochemcial is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard.

But the Soil Association insists that using glyphosate pre-harvest is “fundamentally wrong”.

Policy director Peter Melchett said: “For users of UK flour, the key step must be to ban the use of glyphosate as a pre-harvest desiccant on crops due to enter the human food chain.”