SARAWAK PEPPER
KUCHING: The Malaysian Pepper Board (MPB) will investigate and act promptly on allegations that unscrupulous traders are mixing imported pepper with Sarawak pepper and passing this off as Sarawak pepper.
The board said that this devious action would tarnish Sarawak pepper’s reputation as a premium quality pepper and jeopardise its existing and future markets. Therefore, it urged traders not to exploit consumers’ trust by adulterating Sarawak pepper for extra profits.
As a federal statutory body under the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC), MPB is currently drafting the MPB Regulations (Licensing, Permit and Grading) 2020, which are expected to be announced by the first half of next year.
“The regulations will help the authority to regulate the pepper trade for the benefit of the Malaysian pepper industry and consumers as well as protect the name of Sarawak pepper. It will not inhibit the importation of pepper,” the board said in a statement on Tuesday.
It added that these regulations, which ensured that pepper certified as Sarawak pepper by MPB could be exported, sold or promoted as Sarawak pepper, would be enforced in 2021.
“This measure will allow MPB to promote the production and exports of high quality and value-added pepper products, thereby also supporting local pepper trade development involving exporters, retailers, as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs),” it said.
In addition, MPB said that farmers were informed of the importance of producing quality pepper and maintaining the quality of pepper produced during training courses following the Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) standard as well as visits to farms by MPB extension officers.
It said that farmers were also told of the consequences of mixing Sarawak pepper with pepper from other origins which led to quality deterioration tarnishing the image of Sarawak pepper and potentially affecting prices in the future.
“In 2003, MPB successfully registered Sarawak pepper as a Geographical Indication (GI),” said the board.
It said the MPB Research and Development (R&D) team was currently developing the profiling for Sarawak pepper.
Once this is completed by the end of this year, the board will be able to test and find out the origin of the pepper, thus enabling it to verify if the pepper is indeed Sarawak pepper.
Besides GI and pepper profiling, the team is also exploring the possibility of implementing the traceability system for pepper production.
“Apart from that, Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) in pepper have been developed to protect consumer health,” said the board.
It explained that in Malaysia, MRLs were developed based on actual scientific field trial study and in accordance to international Codex guidelines as well as in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MoH).
Dietary intake assessment was also conducted to ensure the MRL value did not give rise to dietary risk.
“Therefore, it is important that any pepper imported into Malaysia meets the MRL requirements and that no harmful chemical is present in the imported pepper,” it said.
MPB assured that it would continue to ensure that Sarawak pepper remained the best pepper quality with the promotion trademark ‘hallmark of quality’.
