Import tests on bean seeds will start on January 6, 2025, in the Netherlands

Although Cff is a quarantine organism, there are no additional requirements for the import of host plants, other than that these products must be free of Cff. This means that the sending country determines how it guarantees that the batch is free. There is also no need to include a description of Cff on the phytosanitary certificate. Cff can occur asymptomatically in plants and seeds and therefore not be noticed during a visual or field inspection. This means that infected material can be offered for import, although it has been found to be free based on such an inspection. Cff can be reliably demonstrated using a laboratory test. In order to prevent new outbreaks, the NVWA will subject a large number of imported shipments of seeds of Phaseolus vulgaris and Phaseolus coccineus to a laboratory test from the beginning of 2025. These two species are subject to inspection under the European Plant Health Regulation. Additional sampling is carried out at random during the regular ...