Russian food watchdog could ban all fruit, vegetable imports from Turkey next week
MOSCOW. May 12 (Interfax) - The Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) could impose a total ban on fruit and vegetable imports from Turkey next week due to the discovery of quarantined pests.
"We're thinking of imposing restrictions on the rest of the fruit and vegetable produce that has not yet been banned as we continue to discover quarantined pests in deliveries," the watchdog's deputy head, Julia Shvabauskene, told Interfax.
There is actually little left to ban, just marrows, grapefruits and lemons, she said.
Rosselkhoznadzor said on May 11 that it would ban supplies of iceberg lettuce and other lettuce from Turkey from May 16 due to the discovery of California thrips, a quarantined pest, in those products.
Shvabauskene said the watchdog had tried to resolve the problems that had arisen with the Turkish phyto-sanitary service.
"We opted not to shut down all vegetable imports all at once but to restrict supplies of selected produce. But now we can see there was no sense in this as are seeing that this was pointless as we were up against the failings of the Turkish phyto-sanitary service," she said. "Therefore, restrictions will be imposed on the remaining, non-prohibited fruits and vegetables, at once," she said.
Russia banned imports of a number of food products, mainly fruits and vegetables, from Turkey effective January 1, 2016, including fresh and refrigerated tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, shallots, cauliflower, broccoli, oranges, tangerines, grapes, apples, pears, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, sloes, wild strawberries, and strawberries.
Turkish peppers and pomegranates have been banned since April 17 and eggplants since April 25 due to the presence of quarantined pests.