China tightens requirements on new banana shipments
Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said China stated it will reject an entire container of bananas if a single meal bug is found the shipment. This will later on be done on other food shipments.
Alcala said Chinese quarantine officials imposed a 100 percent inspection on all imported fruits from the Philippines, such as Cavendish bananas, papayas and pineapples.
Prior to this, inspection was done randomly.
Alcala said the Department of Agriculture (DA) plans to issue an order that all bananas should pass through accredited packaging houses before these are given export permits.
This is to ensure that the bananas have been properly inspected before being shipped abroad.
Alcala said 170 containers of bananas from the Philippines had been allowed into China as of Wednesday. Most of the fruits were shipped by big exporters.
"We can really see that these big companies are following sanitary and phytosanitary protocol," Alcala said.
The 30 to 40 containers of bananas allowed to enter China since Sunday are part of the 170 container vans reported by the DA.
Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the agreement between the Philippines and China to double-check the inspection of bananas for export before they leave the country and to subject the shipments to a joint inspection by authorities of the two countries upon arrival in China still stands.
The Philippines is one of the world’s top banana exporters with much of the fruits being grown in Mindanao. Among its major markets include Japan, South Korea, PROC and New Zealand. In 2010, total export earnings for fresh Cavendish bananas reached $720 million.
Source: www.malaya.com.ph