PUBLISHER: Fresh Plaza (www.freshplaza.com)
In June, the European Union’s (EU) Standing Committee on Plant, Animal, Food and Feed (SCOPAFF) published drastic, and arguably misinformed, new regulations requiring the cold treatment for oranges heading to the region as a means to address False Coddling Moth (FCM) interceptions from Southern African orange exports. If enforced this month, these new regulations could result in millions of cartons of citrus currently headed to the EU being destroyed.
Despite objections from a number of countries, including European markets that currently import South African oranges, these new regulations were published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 21 June 2022 stating that these “shall apply from 14 July 2022”.
These regulations make extensive changes to the current applicable phytosanitary requirements for citrus coming from South Africa. They require that imports of citrus fruit must undergo specified mandatory cold treatment processes and precooling steps for specific periods (up to 25 days of cold treatment) before importation – in other words, before consignments are shipped.