EU demands tougher requirements for South African lemons

Published Nov 22, 2021

Tridge summary

The European Commission has announced the seizure of a record number of lots of Black Spot-infected limes from Africa, raising concerns about the potential entry of the disease into Europe, particularly through South African lemons. This situation has alarmed the interprofessional organization AILIMPO, based in Spain, which is taking steps to prevent the disease from reaching Europe. AILIMPO is advocating for enhanced phytosanitary measures, including increased control at the point of origin, more stringent testing at European ports, and the exchange of inspectors between Member States. They also recommend the automatic closure of imports once five cases of Black Spot are detected across all citrus fruit categories, aiming to protect Europe's citrus industry from the significant economic and employment threats posed by this disease.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

The European Commission has confirmed through the Europhyt / Traces phytosanitary alert system that this summer 10 lots of limes from Africa have been intercepted of the South infected with Black Spot, a fearsome disease that is not present in Europe. This is a record number, unprecedented, and which has set off the alarms of the interprofessional AILIMPO. Spain, as the second largest producer of lemon in the world and the leading country in fresh exports, cannot under any circumstances run the risk of the entry of lemon South African in Europe infected with this fearsome disease. The entry of this pest from South Africa onto Spanish farms in the region would mean a huge economic loss for our farmers and exporters, followed by a terrible negative impact on employment generated by the Spanish sector. In addition, AILIMPO points out that 3 of the 10 detections of black spot in the South African limy have been reported in the months of September and October, a period of the year that ...

Source: InfoAgro