Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Czech fruit growers call for stricter controls on Polish apples
Czech fruit growers are going to call on the authorities to introduce sanitary checks on all apples imported from Poland, following the growing number of cases of apples from Poland that have been found to be treated with prohibited and harmful substances. This was announced on the Tuesday Fruit Days in Hradec Kralove by the chairman of the Fruit Union of the Czech Republic, Martin Ludvík. Poland is the largest producer of apples in Europe and also the largest supplier in the Czech Republic.
"If the number of such cases continues to rise, we will ask the state authorities to require a certification for each batch of Polish apples to guarantee that the apples are safe," said Ludvík. Consumers, according to him, may become less willing to consume apples because of those bad Polish fruits.
The Central Director of the State Agricultural and Food Inspection Authority (CAFIA) Martin Klanica told the fruit growers that inspections of Polish apples will be carried out more consistently, especially after the last case, when a laboratory analysis on Gloster apples from Poland revealed the presence of a pesticide that is banned in the European Union due to its undesirable side effects.
According to fruit growers, Poland seems to have a systemic problem with ensuring the health of its apples. "Inspections on imported apples are only done on small samples, so they are not able to detect everything," said Ludvík. According to the fruit growers, the control authorities should, as far as possible, test every batch of apples imported from Poland into the Czech market.