Fyffes released a statement in the form of a Q&A session on its website. In the statement, Fyffes addressed the TR4 situation in Latin America, claiming none of their farms have been affected and informing the reader what the company is doing to keep its farms safe.
"Fyffes is taking all precautionary measures to protect its own farms and its suppliers’ farms from TR4 in all the countries it sources from. Under strictly controlled conditions the disease moves slowly as it is transmitted through soil and is only absorbed through the roots. Fyffes has implemented biosecurity measures on our own farms and prevention procedures for our workers’ daily routine, which we continually review."
"Fyffes biosecurity protocols are based on international best practice biosecurity and phytosanitary practices. Details of our biosecurity measures and protocols can be found in our TR4 Biosecurity Guidelines. We are careful to avoid unnecessary visitors to farms and we discourage travel by our people to countries and areas where the disease is prevalent. We ask that employees notify us of any travel to these regions and assess whether that travel has posed a risk to our business." the statement reads.
"Fyffes is working hard to reduce the speed of the spread of TR4 as well as investigating alternative banana variants. The banana industry can benefit from cooperating on this issue and Fyffes has been a participant on the TR4 Task Force at the World Banana Forum since it began.
Fyffes played an instrumental role in the development of the GlobalGAP TR4 add-on launched in 2017, which increases awareness and verifies bio security measures at our suppliers’ farms. We are also closely monitoring innovative bio-diverse banana production, such as the initiatives at some of our suppliers, including Earth University in Costa Rica."
For the full statement, please click here.