The Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC) is continuing to lobby against EC Regulation 669/2009 which came into force last month, affecting the import of certain fresh produce lines from Thailand, Turkey and the Dominican Republic.
The consortium’s Nigel Jenney said: “Highly reputable companies are being affected adversely by this regulation, despite their considerable investment in securing GlobalGAP accreditation with their suppliers/growers, and independently verified records of pesticide residues monitoring required by the UK major retailers and other key customers, which demonstrate that there are no issues with regard to unacceptable levels of pesticide residues in these products identified as high risk from Thailand, Turkey or the Dominican Republic.”
Traders affected by the new rules are being urged to lobby their MP and the Food Standards Agency has a proposal to amend its implementation of the increased controls of high-risk products, by requiring the laboratories to adhere to a minimum turnaround of two to three days for highly perishable products, for which the fresh produce traders involved are likely to have to pay a premium. But Jenney said: “This does not resolve the critical issues of delays and costs incurred by companies importing high-risk products and we have made this clear in our immediate response to the FSA. We believe that this is unacceptable and will continue to press for an urgent resolution, which takes into account the due diligence already adopted by reputable UK companies. We are also taking our case to ministers and key parliamentary groups with interests in international development and better regulation for industry.”
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