ginger

Vietnam has escalated inspections of Chinese ginger imports following reports that ginger growers in Shandong province were excessively applying the pesticide Aldicard.

Aldicard is banned in Vietnam.

Nguyen Xuan Hong, the head of Vietnam's Plant Protection Department, provided a statement to local media saying that produce samples were being collected for testing, with results set to be published shortly.

'We will also co-operate with China to track down ginger importers,' he told reporters. 'Any batches of ginger not meeting quality standards will be sent back.'

While most imports go through standardised food safety tests, the low volumes of ginger imports mean that the produce tends to travel under the radar.