The Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have issued their revised guidelines to test imported fresh produce for pesticide residues.
The guidelines were issued to inform importers and exporters of fresh produce on how the Thai FDA’s Import and Export inspection Division enforces their pesticide residues monitoring programme and testing protocol. The revised guidelines do not represent a major change to their system and basically describes the testing regime and the pathway to continue exports – even if an exporter is listed under the high-risk category as a result of previous breaches.
From a grower’s perspective, growers need to continue to ensure that they adhere to the PHIs and MRLs for all markets open to our summerfruit. Summerfruit NZ also recommends that growers talk to their local spray representative and follow their advice through their spray programmes.
There have not been any issues with residues on produce sent to Thailand in the past, so it is important to continue this trend. If you require any further information regarding this, please contact Biosecurity and export manager, Juan Rosales by email to juan.rosales@summerfruitnz.co.nz
Note: Members can find the 2020-21 PHIs and MRLs on the portal under Main Menu/Agrichemicals/MRLs & PHIs.