25 Official Alerts for Turkish Lemons (18) and Grapefruits (7) in the EU due to presence of pesticides not authorised or exceeding the MRL’s

EUROPEAN CLIENTS SHOULD TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE RISK OF TURKISH LEMONS AND GRAPEFRUITS

Murcia, 20^th January 2021

The European Commission has informed through the RASSF system – Rapid Alert System for Food in the European Union – that since November 18 batches of lemons and 7 batches of Turkish grapefruit have been rejected and banned from entering and marketing in the European Union.

The rejection of the Turkish lemons and grapefruits has been due in all cases to the detection of residues of Chlorpyrifos, Prochloraz, Chlorpyrifos-Methyl, Pirimifos-Methyl and Buprofezin at concentrations exceeding the MRL (maximum residue limit) established by Community legislation. The alerts have been reported by the official inspection services of Bulgaria (11), Slovenia (4), Romania (4), Poland (4) and Croatia (2).

The record high number of health alerts in the RASFF system confirms the shortcomings of the official Turkish control system on the marketing and use of plant protection products and provides key information for distribution chains and European consumers by highlighting the problems of Turkish lemons and grapefruits in meeting EU food safety standards.

Detail by active substance detected (Some Batches with 2 or more active substances detected)

	Chlorpyrifos	Chlorpyrifos-Methyl	Prochloraz	Pirimifos-Metil	Buprofezin	Total
Lemons	6	11	3	1	2	23
Grapefruits	1	5	1			7
Total	7	16	4	1	2	30

Detail by Member State

	BULGARIA	CROATIA	ROMANIA	POLAND	SLOVENIA	Total
Lemons	11	1	2	1	3	18
Grapefruits	0	1	2	3	1	7
Total	11	2	4	4	4	25

Assessment of AILIMPO

The Spanish lemon and grapefruit interprofessional organisation, AILIMPO (Asociación Interprofesional de Limón y Pomelo) has expressed its concern and underlines that “the 25 alerts already confirmed by the EU authorities confirm the existence of the serious management problems faced by the Turkish sector, which has proved incapable of offering European customers guarantees of food safety”.

AILIMPO also adds that “this situation should certainly be taken into account by European customers when planning their supply schedules for lemons and grapefruits from Turkey in the coming weeks”.