The U.S. Grains Council signed a five-year cooperation agreement to work with the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture on the development of a Tunisian Central Laboratory of Animal Feed.
“The new Tunisian government recognized the economic impact grain quality is having on feed performance and the health concerns of its consumers,� explained Cary Sifferath, USGC regional director in the Mediterranean. “They have established a new Tunisian Grain Inspection Authority and built a grain import testing laboratory. This gives the Council an opportunity to work with the Tunisians to help make sure the lab is properly set up and to harmonize its sampling and testing procedures with the methods we use in the United States.�
Citing the Council’s success working with Egypt on grain quality testing, Sifferath believes that harmonizing methods will create a level playing field on which imports can be fairly priced based on minimum quality specifications.
One of the Council’s first projects under the agreement will be to bring top personnel from Tunisia’s new central laboraÂtory to the United States to meet their counterparts at USDA’s Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) and study how official FGIS grain inspections are conducted. They will also visit Kansas State University’s International Grains Program for additional training.