The Veterinary and Phytosanitary Control Service of Russia stated that on Tuesday, December 17, 2019, it had, once again, detected polyphagous humpback flies in a batch of bananas from Ecuador that had been certified by Agrocalidad, the phytosanitary authority of the South American country. This is the third shipment of fruit in which the presence of the fly is detected, according to Russian authorities.
As a result, Russia has once again warned Ecuador that it will impose temporary restrictions on its imports if they don't take effective measures to comply with phytosanitary standards. According to the agency, the presence of the fly represents a threat to food security. Not only can this insect cause damage to the food that is stored, but it can also affect mushroom plantations. In addition, they are cholera transmitting agents.
The Russian phytosanitary service also pointed out that "unfortunately, the measures taken by Ecuador and the guarantees presented do not provide the desired results."
Patricio Almeida, the executive director of the Ecuadorian entity, announced that since Russia is one of the most important markets for the country, the public and private sectors had articulated a joint strategy to demonstrate that the insect is not endemic in the country and that phytosanitary and traceability controls are applied to the entire production chain. He also stated that, between 2014 and October 30, 2019, the Regulatory Agency had issued 43,466 phytosanitary certificates to export 7.8 million tons of bananas to Russia. All this documentation had negative results on the presence of pests.
The Russian market accounts for 20% of all of Ecuador's banana exports. Up until October, Ecuador sent 61.5 million boxes of bananas to that market, according to data from the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE). To avoid this issue, Ecuadorian authorities are considering including in the export protocol a deep cleaning of containers and a mesh in the boxes to prevent the entry of this type of insects.
Currently, the Ecuadorian phytosanitary authority maintains communication with its Russian counterpart to correct any technical information.
Source: elcomercio.com
