Longan fruit and the responsibility of "gatekeeper"

Iceland has just sent a warning to the European Union (EU) notification system about a product imported from Vietnam that violates food safety regulations. It is a batch of longan exported from a business in Tan Binh district (HCMC), with a carbaryl residue level of up to 15.4±50% mg/kg (EU accepts only 0.01mg/kg).

A shipment of only 10kg of longan worth 32 USD, but the fact that the importing country has raised a warning to the entire EU region has somewhat damaged the reputation of other Vietnamese agricultural products when entering this large market.

This is not the first time a shipment of our agricultural exports has been flagged. Previously, there have been shipments of bitter melon, grapefruit, frozen frog legs, crustaceans exported to fragrant rice, instant noodles, spices (pepper, chili, cinnamon, turmeric, ginger) and most recently dragon fruit, durian... that have been reported and warned of being contaminated with harmful substances such as pesticides, heavy metals exceeding the threshold, fungal toxins... Some experts even calculated that Vietnam is among the 10 countries and territories with the highest number of agricultural products and foods that have been flagged. The question is where are our authorities and how are they responsible when this situation keeps repeating? Currently, many agencies are involved in controlling exported goods, but many substandard agricultural products still slip through the net, affecting the reputation and brand of the country.

The EU is a market with a very large consumption capacity (especially agricultural and aquatic products), willing to buy at high prices, while Vietnamese goods only account for 2% of the market share of this region. Vietnam has signed free trade agreements with the EU and the UK. After 3 years of implementing the EVFTA, Vietnam's export growth to the EU has reached 15%, showing the effectiveness of this agreement. The agreements have created competitive advantages for a series of key agricultural products of Vietnam such as pepper, cashew nuts, vegetables, coffee, tea, rubber, etc. thanks to immediate preferential tax rates.

In the 17 free trade agreements that Vietnam has participated in, there are commitments to ensure and comply with regulations on food safety, disease safety, and environmental protection. Once a commitment is made, it must be applied and violations will be handled. Not only the EU region but also any member participating in the WTO tends to upgrade the system of consumer protection standards. Therefore, even with only a small amount of agricultural products, or even just a bag of hand-carried goods, we need to strictly comply with the standards and regulations set by the importing country.

We must strengthen our responsibility to protect the reputation of Vietnamese agricultural products, strictly control the production process, apply standards such as VietGAP, GlobalGAP for export products, and plan separate areas for specialized export products. If violations continue to occur, not only will exported agricultural products be returned and destroyed, but Vietnamese agricultural products in general may be fined with a "yellow card" or "red card" - at which point the damage will be immeasurable.

According to sggp.org.vn

.

Source: http://baoapbac.vn/kinh-te/202310/trai-bon-bon-va-trach-nhiem-gac-cua-991784/