Vietnamese durian exported to the EU has had its pesticide residue checks at border gates increased by 20% due to non-compliance with regulations.

On December 18, the European Union (EU) published an official gazette amending the regulations on temporarily strengthening official controls and emergency measures to manage the import of certain goods from third countries into the European Union.

Notably, Vietnamese durian entering the EU will be subject to increased frequency of monitoring at border gates. Specifically, Vietnamese durian exported to the EU is subject to pesticide residue inspection at a frequency of 20%, an increase of 10% compared to before due to non-compliance with regulations on pesticide residue thresholds.

Previously, at the beginning of the year, for the first time, Vietnamese durian exported to the EU was subject to this residue inspection at a frequency of 10%. This year, in Vietnam, there have been many cases of non-compliance with regulations on plant quarantine and food safety when exporting and fraud in durian exports.

For example, in March, Chinese authorities also warned that 30 shipments of Vietnamese durian exported to China were contaminated with cadmium - a heavy metal that exceeded the country's food safety regulations.

Also in the new EU regulations, chili, okra and dragon fruit will still have the same frequency of inspection at the border. Specifically, dragon fruit 30%, chili and okra 50% and must be accompanied by pesticide residue analysis results. This regulation will take effect from January 8, 2025.

After more than 11 months of being subject to pesticide residue inspection at the border gate with a frequency of 10%, the EU has increased the frequency of inspection of Vietnamese durian to 20%

According to practice, every 6 months, the EU will announce amendments to regulations on strengthening control or applying emergency measures to certain goods entering the EU.

According to statistics from the General Department of Customs, as of October, durian exports reached over 3 billion USD, accounting for 49.11% of total export turnover. In addition to fresh whole durian, our country also exports frozen durian, dried durian, etc.

China is currently the largest export market for Vietnamese durian. In the past 9 months, China imported nearly 618,000 tons of durian from Vietnam, worth 2.45 billion USD, up 72.2% in volume and 57.3% in value compared to the same period last year.

Source: Dan Tri Newspaper