The Food Advisory Committee of the Health Ministry has decided to make the testing of heavy metals and arsenic levels mandatory when importing dried fish, sprats and fruits from today.This step has been taken after it was revealed that some of the imported dried fish, sprats and fruits contain large amounts of heavy metals and arsenic.

A survey conducted by the Food Control Administration Unit at the Health Ministry has revealed that certain imported fruit stocks contain a large amount of lead, which is a heavy metal.

Since heavy metals can harm people’s health, it has been decided to make it mandatory to check the levels of heavy metals and arsenic when importing sprats and fruit and to check the percentage of lead in imported fruit.The Food Control Administration Unit said that companies and individuals should be careful to import only food items that do not contain excessive amounts of heavy metals.

Meanwhile, the Food Control Administration Unit has also introduced a special telephone number 0112 112718 to get more information in this regard.