It is stated that during February, phytosanitary inspectors carried out increased supervision in the area of plant health protection, control of production and trade of seed and planting material, as well as supervision of the trade and use of plant protection and nutrition products.
As announced, the controls included facilities for the production, storage and trade of agricultural materials, pesticide and fertilizer sales facilities, as well as agricultural farms registered in the register.
"The aim of the controls is to verify the degree of fulfillment of prescribed requirements in accordance with regulations in the field of plant health protection, seeds and planting material, plant protection and nutrition products, food safety and other laws within the jurisdiction of this inspection," the report states.
A total of 61 inspections were carried out within the framework of internal control, including 20 based on the Law on Seed Material, 14 based on the Law on Plant Protection Products, 13 inspections under the Law on Planting Material, nine under the Law on Plant Nutrition Products and five inspections in accordance with the Law on Plant Health Protection.
During the inspections, four irregularities were identified, after which two decisions were issued on the seizure and destruction of goods, one decision on the removal of goods from circulation and one decision on the elimination of irregularities.
"A special focus was placed on the control of food safety and pesticide residues, as well as on checking the health status of plants in seed and commercial potato warehouses. Inspectors checked for the presence of harmful organisms such as Epitrix, Ralstonia solanacearum, Phytophtora spp., Xylella fastidiosa, Erwinia and the CTV virus," the report emphasized.
When it comes to import and export control, a total of 2,061 shipments were inspected during February, including 1,505 for import, 82 in transit, 267 for export and 201 for re-export.
During the import control process, 398 samples were taken, of which four were determined in the laboratory to not meet the prescribed requirements.
"Due to identified non-compliance with the prescribed requirements, a total of 57,268 kilograms of product were prevented from being placed on the market," the report states.
Thus, the import of one shipment of 24,000 kilograms of corn polenta was banned, while the destruction of several shipments of fruit and vegetables was ordered, including 19,591 kilograms of bananas, 642 kilograms of peppers, 3,585 kilograms of cucumbers, 3,200 kilograms of pomegranates, as well as 6,250 kilograms of seed potatoes.
Additional controls of planting material were also carried out using rapid tests for several quarantine organisms and GMOs, with all results being negative.
In February, 26.44 percent of imported shipments were sampled, while 267 phytocertificates were issued for export purposes, and 201 for re-export.
Phytosanitary inspectors collected a total of 73,270.02 euros in fees during the same period.
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