PSQCA thanked for defining poppy seeds as food ingredient

KARACHI: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) on behalf of the SME farmers, processors and exporters have thanked Pakistan Standard Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) for adopting standards for Khashkhash (poppy seeds) under their Pakistan Standards PS 5501-2021 and removing all ambiguities, a statement said.

The SME exporters have urged the Ministry of Commerce to allow its export to global destinations smoothly, as the PSQCA has identified it as a food ingredient.

Unisame president Zulfikar Thaver said that the PSQCA has in its seven pages booklet has defined the scope very well to remove any ambiguity about the commodity.

The PSQCA standard said: “Khashkhash (poppy seeds) whole is offered for direct consumption, as an ingredient in food processing, or for repackaging if required.”

Secondly, it said: “Khashkhash dried ripe sound seed from the fruit of the opium poppy, papaver somniferum having reached appropriate degree of development for processing; and processed in an appropriate manner, undergoing operations such as cleaning, drying and sifting.”

Thaver said that the PSQCA has very well both defined its scope as an ingredient and also by itself a food item has cleared the way for it being shipped overseas.

The SME exporters have demanded the government to allow its exports to global buyers who are keen to import it from Pakistan.

They said Turkey and other countries are exporting it and earning valuable foreign exchange and Pakistani SME exporters are losing export orders from many countries.

They said most of the commodity importers have a practice/habit of buying all the items from one source and because of “our refusal to offer Khashkhash, they do not buy even other items from us”.

They said now that the matter of its standard, definition and scope is resolved by the PSQCA, the Ministry of Commerce must allow its export and let the SME farmers, processors and exporters earn for themselves and also valuable foreign exchange for the country.