The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency yesterday announced that it would boost quarantine sampling of custard apple exports to China.
Starting yesterday, quarantine sampling of exports of atemoya — a hybrid variety of custard apple — to China would step up from double the rate that other produce is subject to, to triple, the agency said.
Inspectors would also intensify checks on boxes deep inside shipment containers, it added.
Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
If pests are found at the scene, the supplier would be requested to improve and its produce would then be resampled, with quarantine certificates only issued when no pests are found, the agency said.
The stricter sampling and examination is a response to pests reportedly being detected in a recent container of custard apples exported to China.
The batch was exported to China earlier this month, the first shipment after Beijing suspended imports of a variety of fruits in September 2021 due to pest concerns.
The contaminated goods would be sent back and operations at the plant responsible, the Taitung Area Farmers’ Association (EastFA), would be suspended for 10 days, Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴) said on Wednesday.
EastFA would comply with the order and as the peak harvest season is yet to arrive, the pause would have minimal impact on farmers, EastFA chief of staff Lee Chien-tung (李建通) said on Wednesday.
As China has not issued any official documents regarding the incident, the agency could not confirm what type of pests had been detected, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency Deputy Director-General Du Li-hwa (杜麗華) said.
Acting Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) earlier this month said that China’s decision to resume imports came following negotiations between China and the county government, not through official channels.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency urged China to resume communications on the official cooperation agreement platform of the two nations.
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