Iranian Experts Able to Detect Footprint of over 460 Types of Toxins in Food
Hossein Afshin made the remarks after visiting the Comprehensive Research Laboratory and Development Center for Pharmaceutical Technologies of the Faculty of Pharmacy of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran.
“The amount of toxins in food is one of the most important aspects of food safety, and after passing the third phase, this laboratory, as the first laboratory in Iran, can identify up to 460 types of toxins (and pesticides) in food,” he said.
Afshin also said that detection of authenticity, quality and health of food are among the important functions of this laboratory.
Iran has taken a major step toward realizing pesticide-free agriculture by breeding and raising beneficial insects aimed to battle specific pests.
In 2022, a knowledge-based company in Iran had managed to achieve the technology of raising and breeding useful insects that can be a suitable alternative to the use of pesticides in greenhouses.
The sustainable intensification of agriculture requires solutions for a large-scale reduction of pesticide use while sustaining agricultural yields.
Pesticide-free production standards, which bring together the strengths of all the food value chain actors, could be a cornerstone of this transformation.
Zist Payesh Baztab Kavir Company is breeding different species of mites and pests to make greenhouse farmers needless to use harmful agricultural poisons.
“We started the activity in 2018 by producing a species of pest suitable for controlling greenhouse tomato plagues,” Mahsa Sadat Sarvi Marvasti, the managing director of the company, told ANA.
“Since then, we succeeded in breeding two other varieties of these pests that are able to control greenhouse pepper pests.”
The company is also active in offering consultation and production services, he said, adding that the work is specially focused on biological regulation in farms.
“We offer the service in the two sections of promoting the product and offering consultation to farmers.”
The work is a subcategory of an up-to-date specialty in the world called integrated pest management, which has been studied for about 70 to 100 years in Europe and America.
He concluded by saying that greenhouse pests have become resistant by 95 percent to 98 percent against pesticides. This issue has caused an unprecedented increase in using poisons.
To this end, farmers are looking for a solution to control the growing number of pests in their greenhouses and to be able to do this at a lower cost.
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