However, SA and the EU were still locked in a dispute about the threat of citrus black spot (CBS) spreading to Europe through fruit exports. “Although growers have already implemented a raft of new risk management procedures for 2014, they will now implement additional measures in line with the EU decision,” said Chadwick.
The new measures required registration of all those in the supply chain – including producers, pack houses and exporters – keeping records of appropriate pre- and post-harvest orchard treatments; on-site official inspections of orchards; testing of Valencia-type oranges to ensure no latent infections; testing of fruit in pack houses to identify fruit with lesions; and correct phytosanitary documentation.
According to Chadwick, the most onerous new requirements related to the testing of fruit in the orchard: “The industry is busy making plans to implement ways and means to meet this new requirement.” These measures are based on the revised February 2014 Pest Risk Assessment (PRA) of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
In September last year an expert CBS panel which was formed by SA and the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) identified factual errors and omissions in the EFSA’s 2013 PRA. The panel agreed with earlier PRAs conducted by SA and America that CBS would not spread to the EU through imported fruit.
In June 2013 SA registered a CBS trade concern with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and dispute procedures must still be enacted.
