Colombo, June 5 — In response to difficulties in obtaining domestically produced maize that satisfies established quality criteria, the government has approved issuing an import license to the Health Ministry for importing the requisite amount of maize. This move aims to maintain continuous production of Thriposha. Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, who serves as both the Cabinet spokesman and Health and Mass Media Minister, made this announcement.
At the regular Cabinet press conference held on Tuesday (3), the Minister commented, “Each year, Sri Lanka Thriposha Limited needs 18,000 metric tons of corn, equivalent to a monthly requirement of 1,500 metric tons. Nevertheless, over the last two-and-a-half years, they have been incapable of supplying Thriposha to infants and toddlers from six months up to three years old.”
The Minister stated that due to the detection of hazardous amounts of aflatoxin in domestically grown corn, it can no longer be utilized for producing Thriposha. Consequently, Thriposha Limited initiated a trial program to make Thriposha using rice flour as an alternative.
He went on to say, “Providing adequate infrastructure for local corn cultivation and ensuring that crucial storage units are completely functional could greatly decrease aflatoxin contamination levels and allow us to buy corn directly from our own farmers. Nevertheless, because of the urgent requirement at hand, it was decided to resort to importing corn instead.”
Consequently, the Cabinet of Ministers has endorsed the proposition put forward by the Health and Mass Media Minister to grant an import license. This will enable the Health Ministry to bring in the necessary amount of maize each year to maintain steady production and dissemination of Thriposha.
