July 8 2008, 15:52

Ukraine: decreased tariff rates for the fruits exports failed to increase their quality

Till the recent times 80% of exotic fruits and vegetables have been illegally imported to Ukraine; nobody monitored the product quality. This market is no longer shadowy due to the considerably decreased import tariff rates; just 3-5% of fruits and vegetables are illegally supplied to Ukrainian market. However, this fact did not improve the quality of the imported fruits.

To the opinion of Andriy Yarmak, the head of "Fruit-Inform" project, the system of the quality assurance and certification is ineffective in Ukraine. The requirements to the quality of the imported fruits and vegetables are very high; however, actually the product safety is extremely poorly controlled.

As of today, to the experts' opinion, you'd better buy exotic fruits and vegetables in supermarkets. As a rule, the chains are working with the large importers which value their reputation and control the product quality.