Vietnam tightens checks on more Chinese fruit
Vietnam tightens checks on more Chinese fruit
After already looking more closely at grapes and potatoes, Vietnam will tighten control over plums and pomegranates imported from China after several samples of the fruits were found containing harmful substances, the Plant Protection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has announced. 
In early August Chinese grapes and potatoes were still checked normally, with only 10 percent of the fruit imports required to undergo tests for pesticides and other harmful substances. Such a test found three samples containing amounts of difenoconazole and chlorpyrifosethyl that exceeded the allowed rate by three to five times.
A measure of “strict scrutiny,” which takes 30 percent of the imports for testing, was thus applied on the said fruits from August 10 to September 10, and authorities then detected four samples of grapes, plums, and pomegranates containing amounts of arbendazim, difenoconazole and tubeconazole 1.5 – 5 times higher than the allowed rates.
The fruit was imported to Vietnam via the Lang Son border gate in Lao Cai Province.
“The above substances are used to protect the fruits from fungal spores and diseases, and their residues are harmful to consumer health, affecting their nervous system, and their heart, kidneys, and liver,” said Nguyen Xuan Hong, head of the Plant Protection Department.
All of the imported batches containing samples exceeding pesticide residue levels were forced to be re-exported right at the border gate, he added.
Under the food safety and hygiene law, all fruit and vegetable shipments to Vietnam will first undergo a normal test, with 10 percent tested. After toxic samples are detected, the rate is increased to 30 percent.
“Now that even the tightened control of having 30 percent of the imports tested still found violators, we have sent the rate to 100 percent for Chinese grapes,” said Hong.
He added that if the fruits still breach the safety law under the 100 percent sample tests, Vietnam may trace their origins and ban imports coming from those areas.
Besides enacting tests at the border gates, the Plant Protection Department will also collect samples of imported fruits being circulated on the market for tests.
Rampantly sold
Despite official concern and tightened management, Chinese grapes, plums, and pomegranates are still imported in large quantities on a daily basis, and are widely available across Ho Chi Minh City.
A fruit wholesaler who refused to be named said she imports around 10 tons of Chinese red grapes, and three to four tons of pomegranates, from a source in Hanoi every day. She will then distribute the fruits to small traders, or people in the city’s neighboring localities.
The Thu Duc wholesale market currently receives daily shipments of 110 – 184 tons of Chinese grapes, while the figure prior to the tightened check was 200 tons, according to a market representative.
Chinese grapes are sold to wholesalers at VND45,000 a kg, and they fetch as much as VND120,000 when they reach consumers.
Chinese black plums have recently emerged as a new favorite for local consumers, according to traders.
A trader said she can sell out 25kg of black plums a day at VND40,000 a kg, while the buying price from the wholesale market is only VND17,000 per kg.
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