Maltese farmers have raised the alarm over imported tomatoes, infected with the ‘tomato brown rugose fruit virus’ (ToBRFV). The infected tomatoes are apparently being sold at Lidl, according to a Facebook post that was uploaded by a local farmer. The farmer wrote: “Unfortunately, it’s happened again. Tomatoes being sold at Lidl supermarket, infected with ToBRFV, a virus which destroys the tomato plant. How does this enter Malta without any kind of certification?”
Malcolm Borg, coordinator of the NGO Għaqda Bdiewa Attivi, was also expressing anger on behalf of Maltese farmers: “Farmers are extremely angry at this situation. They have been subjected to numerous inspections in the last growing season during which inspectors from the Plant Health directorate took samples from the farmers’ crop which were sent abroad to check if the farmer’s tomato crop had the virus. If the virus was found, their whole crop was uprooted, against a minimal compensation.”
Source: lovinmalta.com
Photo source: Twitter.com
