BEIRUT: Pathology experts sounded alarm bells Tuesday after an inspection of grain silos at Beirut’s port conducted by ministers found supplies were being stored in poor conditions. After weeks of warning citizens about contaminated meat and poultry in Lebanon’s restaurants and shopping markets, Health Minister Wael Abu Faour brought the issue of wheat storage into the limelight.
“Lebanese are sharing wheat with rats and pigeons,” Abu Faour announced at the end of the tour, accompanied by Alain Hakim and Akram Chehayeb, the ministers of economy and agriculture respectively.
Although the director of grain silos at the port, Moussa Khoury, expressed support for the health minister’s campaign, he complained that the inspection was restricted to the areas surrounding the silos and not inside the storage unit itself.
The presence of rats in the vicinity of the silos was enough to raise red flags, experts warned.
“Rats carry dangerous diseases,” stressed Alexander Abdelnour, chairperson of the department of experimental pathology, microbiology and immunology at the American University of Beirut.
Abdelnour told The Daily Star that there are a number of bacteria carried by rats. “It’s a problem if it [the presence of rats] is true,” he added.
Abdelnour said certain microbes carried by rats can cause health problems for people including infections such as leptospira leading to leptospirosis, which can cause bleeding from the lungs. “Leptospira is a spiral-shaped bacterium that can lead to kidney and lung problems if a person catches it,” he said.
Rat urine contains leptospira, Abdelnour explained.
Fleas too can carry bacteria, such as Yersinia pestis, from rats and implant it in foods, he added.
According to Abu Faour, who spoke at a joint news conference at the port with both the agriculture and economy ministers, a fence cordoning off silos at the port was not enough to ward off infestation.
“We found a number of rats and rodents, some of them dead,” he said.
“The presence of a huge number of birds also allows for the transmission of spores,” he said at the port. “There are also pigeons, some of them dead, around the silos.”
“I suggest they take these dead rats and examine them to see if they carry microbes,” Abdelnour said.
The health minister also said cargo containers and maintenance rooms should be examined for possible water leakages, which can cause mold to thrive.
Abu Faour also said trucks transporting grains to and from silos “were not in good condition.”
He has since referred the case to judicial authorities.
Abu Faour acknowledged that grain silos at the port were under new management set up only seven months ago. The new port manager was appointed five months ago.
The minister added that he did not “hold any party responsible” for the disorder at the port, but noted that the filthy conditions had been accumulating for years.
But Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb was quick to blame the poor conditions on the government’s “historic neglect” of Beirut port.
Chehayeb also expressed concern over the facility’s working conditions, noting that the 4,000 truck drivers who come and go from the port did not have access to a single bathroom.
Abu Faour and Chehayeb could not access the silos because they were trapped in an elevator at the facility for 15 minutes.
Despite the minister’s report, the grain silos’ manager maintained that wheat storage at his port complied with health and safety standards, and said that grain at the port was transported from silos using approved equipment. Khoury, the manager, also said the grain was sterilized before being transferred to the mill.
Tuesday’s move was the latest in a series of actions undertaken by Abu Faour as part of his wildly popular food safety campaign.
Abu Faour and inspectors from the ministry have since last month been inspecting food and transportation facilities around the country, highlighting safety violations publicly.
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