The European Commission held its first review meeting on EC Regulation 669\\2009 on Monday with banana rules set to be scrapped.
It considered the products listed on Annex I including Indian curry leaves and Egyptian oranges, strawberries, peaches, pomegranates and green beans looking at pesticides through physical checks as well as pesticide checks of Thai fresh basil and coriander and on spices and herbs for salmonella.
But the commission has proposed to remove the controversial controls imposed on bananas from the Dominican Republic and to introduce additional products and their country of origin to the existing Annex I listing.
The proposals are subject to a vote by the Standing Committee and are likely to be introduced on 1 October. There is a month’s scrutiny period allowed for the European Parliament to oppose it but this is expected to be highly unlikely.
The Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC) has been lobbying the Food Standards Agency as well as the European Commission in advance of this review meeting, providing evidence of the devastating impact on importing fresh produce businesses.
The key issue which FPC has raised is the regulation’s failure to respond to the perishability of fresh produce with the associated loss of trade, penalties and loss of contracts with suppliers/retailers.
One large-scale supermarket supplier told freshinfo the regulation was “bureaucratic nonsense” and was costing them around £1,000 a week to service the “irrelevant and pointless” ruling.
He added: “It is not just the cost but the sheer delay in accessing your containers and you do not know from Port Health which of the containers they want to you have to make multiple entries into the system and take up more time.”
The regulation may also costs to the industry to cover imposed inspection charges, sampling and residue testing, additional storage costs, damage and loss of products, and their disposal.
The FPC said: “The implementation of the EC Regulation 669/2009 is having a devastating and unnecessary impact on the fresh produce industry in the UK and this Regulation fails to take into account the highly perishable nature of fresh produce and the devastating impact of delays in distribution due to mandatory testing and inspection, with no additional consumer benefit.
“Highly reputable UK companies are being affected adversely by this Regulation, despite their considerable investment in securing GlobalGap accreditation with their suppliers/growers, and independently verified records of pesticide residues monitoring, required by the UK major retailers and other key customers, which demonstrate that there are no issues with regard to unacceptable levels of pesticide residues in these products identified as high risk from Thailand, Turkey or the Dominican Republic.”
FPC is seeking the urgent introduction of an Assured Trader status which recognises that reputable companies have made considerable investment in securing accreditation from GlobalGap and many other bodies with their suppliers/growers, and have independently verified records of pesticide residues monitoring. It also wants monthly reports from the Food Standards Agency regarding results of residue tests carried out under the Regulation.
The FPC is calling for further discussions to take place to provide a solution for the European Commission, member states’ authorities and the industry which takes into account the due diligence already adopted by reputable companies.
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