BOBS drafts vegetable grading standards :: Mmegi Online

Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOBS) is developing grading standards for fruits and vegetables to facilitate both internal and external trade, and serve as a regulatory instrument for food safety.

The standard will be called GOOD Agricultural Production (GAP). BOBS fruits and vegetable technical committee chairperson, Otsoseng Oagile, told Business Monitor that fruits and vegetables on the market are not graded under any regulating body. He said their quality and grading systems are not guaranteed, so the GAP will allow regulating authorities to monitor farmers and ensure set grading standards are met. “Our concern is that we don’t know how these vegetables are planted and which chemicals were used.

This is mainly because we do not have the laws and standards to enable us to test these grading systems,” said Oagile.

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