Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is to enact new regulations to prevent the importation of fresh produce with unacceptable pesticide residue levels.
The Viet Nam News reported legislation known as Circular 39 which lists a number of plants and plant-based products that will be subject to inspections before entering the country, is to be enacted on 27 September.
Currently imported fruit is only required to have quarantine certificates from the ministry’s Post Entry Quarantine Centre 2, which do not monitor chemical residue.
The move comes in light of inspections last months, which found pesticide levels exceeding local limits on three types of fruit imported from China. Two samples of Chinese grapes had difenoconazole residue levels three to five times the acceptable standard, the newspaper reported.
