Vietnamese agricultural and food products receive 12 warnings from the EU

Since the beginning of the year, the EU has issued 12 warnings due to violations of EU food safety regulations by Vietnamese agricultural and food products.

The Vietnam National Notification and Inquiry Point on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Vietnam Office) reported that in just over 40 days at the beginning of this year, the European Union (EU) issued 12 warnings due to violations of EU food safety regulations by Vietnamese agricultural and food products.

Dragon fruit is warned by the EU for exceeding pesticide residue limits.

Among these, there were 3 warnings related to dragon fruit, due to pesticide residue exceeding permissible levels. Accordingly, 3 batches of dragon fruit from 3 companies in Tien Giang and Ho Chi Minh City were warned due to the detection of pesticide residues exceeding the permitted limits.

Specifically, Pyraclostrobin exceeded the limit by 0.050±0.025mg/kg, Dithiocarbamates exceeded by 0.15mg/kg, Forchlorfenuron exceeded by 0.023±0.012mg/kg, Propiconazole exceeded by 0.029±0.015mg/kg, Thiamethoxam exceeded by 0.10±0.05mg/kg, and Dithiocarbamates exceeded by 1.2±0.60mg/kg. Meanwhile, the maximum permissible residue limit is only 0.01 to 0.05mg/kg. These three shipments of dragon fruit were returned by the EU, destroyed, and sealed at customs for further processing.

Mr. Ngo Xuan Nam, Deputy Director of the SPS Vietnam Office, said that currently, Vietnamese dragon fruit is subject to a 30% inspection frequency at border crossings by the EU, along with the requirement for export shipments to have certificates of pesticide residue analysis results. According to regulations, the EU meets every six months to review food safety violations by exporting countries.

Over the past month, dragon fruit has received three warnings. In the future, if pesticide residue levels are not properly controlled according to regulations, and the EU continues to detect further violations, dragon fruit risks having its inspection frequency increased by 50%.

The maximum permissible residue levels are very low, mostly not exceeding 0.01 mg/kg. Therefore, Mr. Ngo Xuan Nam advised that growing regions, packaging facilities, and businesses exporting to the EU market must also have solutions to control pesticide residues. Local authorities with dragon fruit growing areas must also strengthen inspection and supervision of this matter.

Explaining why dragon fruit shipments, despite having certificates of pesticide residue analysis before export, still showed many violations during EU inspections, Mr. Ngo Xuan Nam said that the sampling results are only valid for the analyzed sample, while the EU takes random samples.

The discrepancies may be due to the fact that during the dragon fruit procurement process, businesses buy from multiple growing regions, some of which do not properly control pesticide residue levels, thus affecting the entire batch.

If the dragon fruit is sourced from a region with good food safety and pesticide control, the likelihood of discrepancies in the results will be very low. However, if a batch is sourced from multiple regions, the business must ensure objective sampling to guarantee objective retesting results.

Previously, according to the Vietnam SPS Office, in 2024 Vietnam received 114 warnings from the EU, double the number in 2023. Of these, dragon fruit accounted for 7 warnings, all related to pesticide residue exceeding permissible limits. In addition, many shipments of durian and chili peppers also received warnings due to pesticide residue exceeding permissible limits.

Currently, the EU applies a 20% border inspection frequency for durian, 30% for dragon fruit, and 50% for chili and okra. In addition, dragon fruit, chili, and okra must be accompanied by a certificate of pesticide residue analysis before being exported to the EU.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/nong-san-thuc-pham-viet-nam-nhan-12-canh-bao-tu-eu-373895.html