Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health has temporarily banned peanut butter imported from Britain in view of reports that it contains aflatoxin, a deadly fungal toxin, reported the Gulf Times on Tuesday.
Khalifa Al Jaber, assistant undersecretary at the ministry, told the paper that the ban was imposed following reports of the detection of aflatoxin in peanut butter sourced from Britain.
The ban applies only to peanut butter imported from Britain, he clarified. No other countries' peanut butter has been blacklisted.
The high-level committee that declared the temporary ban was presided over by Jaber.
He said samples of peanut butter would be examined at the ministry laboratory to determine whether it was contaminated with aflatoxin, a powerful liver carcinogen.
Abdullah Omar Al Hamaq, a committee member, said that some samples of peanut butter had already been collected and sent for lab tests.
"The ban is a temporary one. It may be lifted if tests rule out the presence of aflatoxin," Hamaq told the paper.
The committee met Monday following Saudi Arabia's decision to ban imports of peanut butter from Britain, said the paper.
Exposure to aflatoxin, which occurs on grains, corn and other crops besides peanuts, can cause liver cancer, according to doctors – Albawaba.com
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