In January, Europe's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) issued a total of 61 alerts for Turkish fruit and vegetables destined for the European Union for containing residues of banned pesticides or for exceeding the maximum residue limits allowed by the Community market. Turkey thus monopolized most of these European alerts from the main fruit and vegetable importing countries for containing traces of prohibited pesticides.
In January, the EU rejected 25 shipments of Turkish citrus, which accounted for 40% of all citrus shipments rejected. 65% percent of the global alerts (40) was issued after authorities detected the presence of methyl chlorpyrifos or chlorpyrifos, which are active substances prohibited in Community territory, in fruit and vegetable imports from Turkey. 32 of the 40 alerts due to chlorpyrifos or methyl chlorpyrifos were detected in citrus (80% of them) and 31 of these shipments came from Turkey (97%).
Alerts on Turkish shipments continue to increase; in 2021 the number of alerts on Turkish shipments increased by 57% over the previous year. However, Turkey has not been audited for pesticides for more than two years.
The European Commission increased the inspection pressure on Turkish citrus through Execution Regulation 2021/1900 of October 27, 2021, raising the controls up to 20% in citrus fruits (lemons, tangerines, and oranges), pomegranates, and peppers. Despite this, health alerts have been increasing in recent months and therefore LA UNIÓ is committed to suspending imports of these productions from Turkey until it guarantees food safety in the products it intends to put on the European Union market. LA UNIÓ has also requested that at least 20% of the Egyptian citrus fruits exports to the EU be controlled because at the moment controls are carried out randomly.
In this sense, the agrarian organization urges the Spanish Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Consumption, to become involved in defending the citrus sector from the lack of reciprocity and the health risks they pose for consumers. LA UNIÓ considers that reciprocity or the adoption of mirror clauses is necessary so that citrus producers from third countries have to comply with the same social, labor, and environmental standards that the Europeans must meet.
For more information:
LA UNIÓ de Llauradors
Tel.: +34 963 530 036
[email protected]
https://launio.org