Recently, there have been some false reports in the press and in some social networks about a case related to exports of frozen organic pineapples, and about the participation of the Minister of Agriculture in them.
1. The case. On March 7, 2016, Frutera La Paz, a company that processes organic frozen pineapple and that is part of the Chamber of Organic Agriculture (CANAGRO), accused a company that also processes organic frozen pineapple, Congelados y Jugos del Valle Verde (hereinafter CCV), of selling traditional pineapples as if they were organic fruit. The complaint was filed with the State Phytosanitary Service (SFE), a decentralized entity attached to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, which is the competent body by law to deal with this matter. It's important to clarify this because CANAGRO claims that the Minister took no action about this case, when the competent body to do so by law is the SFE. The complaint was received by the former Director of the SFE, Engineer Francisco Dall'Anese and the process took place there.
2. Commercial background. According to the SFE, in 2016 Costa Rica had 1,404.3 hectares of certified organic pineapple. Much of the product that can't be exported as fresh fruit is exported as frozen fruit. The frozen organic pineapple market is limited, when compared to the demand for organic fresh fruit, and even smaller when compared to the traditional fresh fruit. In these circumstances, competition in this segment of the market is very intense.
3. Treatment of CANAGRO's complaint against CCV. The SFE has a body that is in charge of the Organic Agriculture Register (ARAO), whose function is "to register the producers and processors of organic vegetables, according to the Regulation on Organic Agriculture." The former Director of the SFE ordered a preliminary investigation by an ad hoc body outside ARAO. Based on this preliminary investigation, on May 18, 2016 the organic certification to CCV is suspended, without following due process. After the CCV filed an appeal with the Constitutional Chamber, the SFE changes the resolution and indicates that the suspension is a precautionary measure and opens a new procedure guaranteeing due process and the right of defense. The Constitutional Chamber indicated that that change corrected the previous procedural error. The new procedure fails to demonstrate the fraud denounced by CANAGRO. Two independent facts reinforce this conclusion of the SFE. First, the National Organic Program (NOP) of the US also investigates the matter, and also has negative results. Second, the chemical analyzes of the fruit and the soil of the plantation that the CCV supplied had no pesticide residues.
On the other hand, the Internal Audit of the SFE detected that the ad hoc body that conducted the preliminary investigation had shared confidential information with one of the parties involved (CANAGRO), thus violating the impartiality of the investigation. For this reason the official in charge of the ad hoc body was suspended for eight days after a disciplinary procedure. He wasn't punished for speaking with a journalist, or for reporting a fraud, as has been said in social networks. He was sanctioned because he shared confidential information, as proved by the Internal Audit of the SFE.
In light of the conclusions of the SFE (which coincide with those of the NOP), CANAGRO will take the matter to the courts of justice, where it is being analyzed. "At the same time, they talk to the press and to congress, turning this issue into a political issue against me," said Luis Felipe Arauz Cavallini, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock. "The truth is that, due to the regulatory and legal procedures, I did not have to intervene in this process as the administrative procedure was being carried out by the competent body, much less now that it is being handled in court. If I write this now, it is out of respect for public opinion, as it should be."