Greek authorities are withholding imported grapefruit from the retail market, pending the results of tests to see if it is contaminated.
The precaution, announced by Evangellos Seferiadis, an official of the Ministry of Commerce, followed the poisoned grapefruit scare in Rome where grapefruit from Israel was pulled off the market because of anonymous warnings that it had been sabotaged.
Seferiadis, who is president of the central fruit and vegetable market in Athens, said Greece imports limited quantities of fruit from other countries, including Israel.
It is routinely tested as required by law, but will be checked again before it is distributed to retailers, the official said.
According to Seferiadis, the tainted grapefruit has been found only in Italy. But the scare seems to have been a false alarm. The state-owned television channel, RAI, announced in Rome Wednesday that a blue substance found in imported grapefruit and thought to be poisonous turned out to be a harmless coloring agent.
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