From next July, Vietnam's dragon fruit and okra will continue to be subject to increased inspection frequency when exported to the European Union (EU). If there are no improvement measures, the EU may suspend imports.

Leaders of the Vietnam SPS Office spoke at the conference - Photo: NGUYET HANG

This information was shared by Ms. Coulon Sylvie - senior expert of the General Directorate for Health and Food Safety (DG-SANTE) of the European Commission; said at a conference to disseminate regulations on importing agricultural products and foods of plant and animal origin into the EU market organized by the Vietnam SPS Office in coordination with DG-SANTE on May 7, in Hanoi.

Vietnam has a risk of pesticide residue

At the conference, Ms. Coulon Sylvie said that the EU is applying regulation 2019/1973 on temporarily strengthening official control measures and conditions; especially for some food products or animal feed that are not of animal origin (referred to as products) for some countries, including Vietnam.

"Where we see increased risks of contamination and pesticide residues from countries exporting to the EU, additional measures will be taken. For Vietnam, there are risks of pesticide residues, microbial contamination (salmonella) and aflatoxins" - Ms. Coulon Sylvie emphasized.

Ms. Coulon Sylvie said that regulation 2019/1973 has 3 annexes. Appendix 1, strengthens official control measures of products at border gates, checks traceability records, and takes random samples for analysis according to the frequency of shipments.

Appendix 2, controlling imported products with special conditions such as certificates from the exporting country's management agency, results of hazard analysis and increased stricter inspection compared to Appendix 1.

Annex 3, temporary suspension (temporary suspension) of imports into the EU.

According to Ms. Coulon Sylvie, Vietnam has 3 items being controlled according to Appendix 1 of the 2019/1973 regulations: pepper, instant noodles containing spice packets, and durian.

"According to Appendix 1, which will be amended next July, instant noodles containing Vietnamese seasoning packages will be removed from the list of frequency inspections when exported to the EU.

However, we are concerned that pepper products are subject to a 50% inspection frequency (ie for 2 shipments to the EU, 1 batch must be inspected). If this situation does not improve, there is a risk of moving to Appendix 2, causing disadvantages for Vietnam.

This requires Vietnamese management agencies to carefully inspect shipments before exporting to Europe" - Ms. Coulon Sylvie said.

Dragon fruits exported to the EU are about to have their inspection frequency increased - Photo: N.TRI

Dragon fruit and okra are at risk of having their imports suspended by the EU

Regarding Vietnamese dragon fruit and okra, they are being controlled according to Appendix 2 with inspection frequency of 20% and 50% respectively; Senior experts of DG-SANTE said that in Appendix 2, which will be updated next July, the frequency of inspection of these two items will increase compared to the present.

"If we continue to not improve, if we are not careful, we will fall into Appendix 2A, the EU will apply measures to temporarily suspend imports. This is a product with very high demand in the European market; it's just that the residue Pesticides in these products are very worrying" - Ms. Coulon Sylvie warned and suggested that Vietnam needs to strengthen control measures before exporting in the near future.

Ms. Coulon Sylvie also said that within 6 months, the EU will periodically review and update the list of products in the control annex.

"We will conduct a review in cases of urgent risks or situations of serious non-compliance that occur many times, the EU will apply measures to ensure safety. For example, in the case of dragon fruit, if there are no improvement measures, the EU may have to apply temporary suspension measures" - Ms. Coulon Sylvie added.

According to: Nguyet Hang, Chi Tue - Tuoi Tre Newspaper