China Worries Dominate Peas

VANCOUVER - Jun 2/06 - SNS -- International field pea markets ended the week on a down note because of recent problems with whole yellow pea sales to China.

Since March, China has been testing peas for selenium and it appears at least two loads of U.S. and/or Canadian peas have been rejected.

Unless China increases its tolerance for selenium in peas or stops testing, exporters will need to test peas as they are being accumulated to make sure they contain less than 0.3 mg per kilogram or 300 micrograms per kilogram.

To bring this into perspective, the recommended daily selenium intake for humans is 500 micrograms per day and the maximum recommended amount of selenium in the diet is under 1500 micrograms per day. When selenium intake consistently exceeds 5000 micrograms per kilogram of food eaten, people get sick. People also get sick if the diet contains less 30 micrograms of selenium per day.

Parts of China suffer from an extreme deficiency of selenium in the soil and people are getting sick. Medial researchers above normal incidences of the potentially fatal Keshan disease and Kashin-Beck disease in those areas.

The primary symptom of Keshan disease is myocardial necrosis, leading to weakening of the heart. Kashin-Beck disease results in atrophy, degeneration and necrosis of cartilage tissue. Keshan disease also makes the body more susceptible to illness caused by other nutritional, biochemical, or infectious diseases.

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