New politically motivated EU regulations could see R654 million of SA citrus destroyed
11 July 2022
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.
These new requirements differ significantly from South Africa's existing rigorous FCM Risk Management System, which has been highly effective in protecting European production from the threat of pest or disease, including FCM, over several years and is supported by the results of scientific studies published in international peer reviewed scientific journals.