This morning, the Ministry’s Agricultural Product Connection Management Group 970 organized an online forum ‘Diversifying processed and preserved fruit and vegetable products in association with the requirements of the consumption market’.
At the forum, Dr. Ngo Xuan Nam, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Sanitary and Phytosanitary Notification Authorities and Enquiry Point (SPS Vietnam Office) informed, that in the first six months of the year, there were 2,251 warnings from the EU's rapid warning system for agricultural products, food and animal feed. Amongst them, 40 warnings were for Vietnamese agricultural products accounting for 1.77 percent.
Particularly, nine warnings of them were for Vietnamese vegetables, accounting for 22.5 percent. The warnings focus on violations of pesticide residue levels exceeding EU regulations, with only one warning of sensory violation and one warning of violation of aflatoxin during preliminary processing.
For example, rambutan exported to the Netherlands was contaminated with the pesticide chlorpyrifos at 0.022 mg per kilogram while the maximum allowable residue level is 0.01 mg per kilogram; therefore, all the fruit had to be destroyed.
Additionally, frozen red peppers in the Netherlands had the residue of cadmium at 0.28 mg per kilogram and insecticide chlorpyrifos at 0.14 mg per kilogram, chlorfenapyr at 0.23 mg per kilogram, and banned substance permethrin at 0.22 mg per kilogram.
Moreover, the batches of chili sauce products shipped to the Republic of Cyprus were also destroyed because they contained banned substances E 110 - Sunset Yellow FCF and E124 - Ponceau 4R/cochineal red A.
Similarly, shipments of dragon fruit were destroyed in France due to residues of Dithiocarbamates at 0.16+-0.080 mg per kilogram whereas the maximum allowable level is 0.05 mg per kilogram. Lychees to Italy have a permethrin residue at 1.14+-0.057 mg per kilogram whereas the maximum allowable level of 0.05 mg per kilogram.
Last but not least, cashew nuts had an amount of Aflatoxin at 9.6 ± 2.7 µg per kilogram whereas the maximum allowable level of 4.0 µg per kilogram.
