20 Mar 2014

American Samoa school lunches at risk says senator

8:31 pm on 20 March 2014

A senator in American Samoa, Soliai Tuipine, has called on the government to stop accepting vegetables from Asian farmers for the territory's school lunch programme.

He was reacting to reports of illegal pesticide residue found on vegetables mostly supplied by Asian farmers.

Local agricultural authorities are hoping for federal funds to buy an analyser machine to test for illegal pesticides but the senator says it may take many months for the technology to arrive.

He says parents are worried and the government should act quickly to allay their concerns by ordering food supplies from off-island.