Almost half of fruit and vegetables imported from Armenia this year not inspected - Rosselkhoznadzor

MOSCOW. July 26 (Interfax) - Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) has expressed its concern over the rise in imports of unsafe plant products from Armenia, nearly half of which were not shown for control by the Service's specialists.

As of July 23, some 73,900 tonnes of fruit and vegetables were imported from Armenia, almost as many as over the same period in 2023 (74,800 tonnes), according to data from the Argus-Phyto Federal State Information System. Most of the imports were apricots (28,800 tonnes), apples (12,400 tonnes), tomatoes (8,700 tonnes) and bell peppers (5,700 tonnes), Rosselkhoznadzor sai

However, almost half of them failed to undergo phytosanitary control by Rosselkhoznadzor officials at the point of destination. This led Rosselkhoznadzor to formally ask Armenia to stop issuing phytosanitary certificates to the suppliers who let the violations happen.

Furthermore, those products which were accompanied by Armenian phytosanitary certificates were found to contain EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union) quarantine pests. The agency also recorded 98 instances of exceeding maximum permissible levels of residual content of pesticides and agrochemicals. In some active substances, the levels were five to eight times the norm.

This led Rosselkhoznadzor to write a letter to Armenia's Food Safety Inspection Body, expressing its concern and asking to suspend exports from 16 suppliers until the inquiry into violations was complete.

These issues were discussed during Friday's online talks between Rosselkhoznadzor deputy director Yulia Shvabauskene and the inspection body's deputy director Sona Tsarukyan, Rosselkhoznadzor said. The Russian side stressed the need for exhaustive measures to ensure product safety.

An inspection was already underway and its findings would be communicated additionally, Armenian representatives said.

It was agreed during the talks that Russian specialists would visit Armenia in late August for a joint inspection with Armenian counterparts of the sites where products are produced, processed, stored and shipped to Russia, and to familiarize themselves with a tracking and plant quality control system. The Russian side invited Armenian specialists to visit Rosselkhoznadzor laboratories to familiarize themselves with a system which monitors the content of residual quantities of pesticides in plant products.