Augusto Jimenez, president of the Association of the Highlands, confirmed on Wednesday, that the onions imported from the Netherlands had fungi and carbon levels of 30%, when these levels should not exceed 10%; which represents a risk for domestic consumers.
"In the first nine months of 2016 the country imported 220,000 pounds of onions, 95,000 of which come from the Netherlands, and the rest from the United States and Peru," said Jimenez.
According to Jimenez, at this time there is no guarantee that the onions being imported from the Netherlands meet the technical standards of the Ministry of Agricultural Development (Mida), which states that this product should enter the country a maximum 120 days after it was harvested, to avoid the presence of fungi.
Regarding the presence of carbon in the onions, Jimenez said, this happened because the product had been harvested over 1,000 meters above sea level and then had been transported in containers at less than five degrees Celsius.
Then, once the onions reached Panama, the increase in heat caused them to have 30% carbon levels, when the acceptable level is 10%.
He also stated that domestic producers were currently suffering an onion marketing crisis, due to the current excessive imports, and that the problem would continue as long as imports were not regulated.
In this moment, he said, the producers from the Highlands had about 20,000 quintals of onions that haven't been marketed and that the Institute of Agricultural Marketing (IMA) had only managed to buy 2,000 quintals of the 10,000 quintals it had pledged to purchase to help them deal with the current problem.
Producers have decided to perform a Solidarity Caravan nationwide, an event where they will directly sell their onions to the consumer, to prove the IMA is not interested in selling the national onion.
If producers fail to market September's production, their stock will increase in October, which ultimately increases their crisis and could lead to bankruptcy and force them to leave the industry.
The regional coordinator of Plant Protection of the Ministry of Agricultural Development (Mida) in Chiriqui, Harry Perez Armuelles, stated that the Aupsa was the institution responsible for verifying that onions entering Panama from the Netherlands was free of fungi and pests.
The regional director of the Mida in Chiriqui, Rolando Guerrero, said the onion's carbon levels increased when their cold chain was broken and when there were changes of temperatures, which caused the product to sweat, and, due to the climatic conditions, to generate carbon.
He said that to prevent this, importers must ensure that the product reaching Panama be maintained and stored under the same conditions in which it was brought to the country.
Source: panamaamerica.com.pa