The Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC) has raised concerns with the Food Standards Agency and the European Commission regarding the inclusion of products under new regulations on “high risk” produce.
Products including Egyptian oranges, peaches, pomegranates, strawberries and green beans; curry leaves from India and coriander leaves, basil and mint from Thailand will be added to the Annex I listing of EC Regulation 669/2009 from October.
The UK is a major importer of the Egyptian products. The UK accounts for around 40 per cent of EU imports of oranges from Egypt in 2008, and the regulation will impact on many importing companies.
“We are extremely concerned about the impact of these additional checks on the capacity of both ports and Port Health Authorities to cope with the required number of checks. It is likely that some will not have sufficient resource or storage facilities to cope with such high volumes coming from Egypt,” said FPC ceo Nigel Jenney.
“This poorly thought out Regulation fails to meet standards for effective, risk-based and proportionate regulation,” added Nigel. “Increased checks, delays in clearance, additional storage costs, damage and loss of products and their disposal are devastating many importers and suppliers of highly perishable products. The situation is likely to worsen in October unless the authorities urgently introduce the Assured Trader status and reduce checks on reputable traders.”
The FPC’s successful lobbying secured the immediate lifting of unnecessary controls for bananas from the Dominican Republic, saving importers further costs and delays after the Commission’s decision to de-list bananas from the Dominican Republic from 1 October.
The FPC continues to press for the urgent application of the Assured Trader Scheme which would permit Port Health Authorities to reduce checks on reputable traders already meeting high standards.
The trade body believes: “Currently there is no recognition of the fact that highly reputable companies have made considerable investment in securing accreditation from GlobalGAPand others, with independently verified records of pesticide monitoring.
“We accept the need for appropriate risk based regulation, but as this regulation stands it is a sledge hammer to crack a nut. The UK Government states that it is committed to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy on trade but we have yet to see this come to fruition.”
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