Russia lifts ban on EU vegetables

Russia signed an agreement with the European Union on Wednesday to resume the import of?EU vegetables, possibly by the end of this week.

Russia blocked imports of fresh European vegetables after they were blamed for a deadly E.coli outbreak which struck Germany last month.

"Following today's agreement, I now expect a swift resumption of the EU's exports to Russia," EU Health Commissioner John Dalli said in a statement.

"Both sides have shown good will to make sure that this incident is now behind us," he added.

The European Commission announced that a deal to end the ban had been signed in Moscow during a visit by a high-level Brussels delegation.? The agreement does, however, include a number of stipulations.

Safety provisions

For a limited time, all European vegetables exported to Russia must be accompanied by certificates stating the origin of the product and an assurance that it doesn't carry the E.coli bacteria strain.

Bildunterschrift: Grosansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: ?Earlier this month, President Medvedev promised to lift the ban if his demands were met Brussels must also provide Moscow with a list of official bodies and laboratories authorized to issue the food safety certificates.

"Everything depends on them," Gennady Onishchenko, head of Russia's state consumer protection watchdog, told Reuters.

It was agreed, however, that these conditions would be lifted once ten days had passsed without any new reports of human cases linked to the E.coli strain.

The Netherlands, Poland and Belgium already have these systems in place and are expected to resume exports by the end of the week.

Trading accusations

The source of the E.coli outbreak, which claimed the lives of more than three dozen people, initially puzzled German authorities.

The uncertainty prompted Moscow to issue a blanket ban on all vegetables.??This angered the EU which accused Russia of taking too long to resume imports, arguing that such a ban was not scientifically justifiable.

In return, Moscow criticized the EU for failing to locate the source of the infection.

The outbreak has since been traced to contaminated German bean sprouts from an organic farm in Lower Saxony.

Last year, the EU exported about 600 million euros ($862

million) worth of vegetables to Russia.

Author: Charlotte Chelsom-Pill (Reuters, dpa)

Editor: Susan Houlton

View the original article here

AVA lifts suspension of fruits and vegetables from Hyogo, Shizuoka prefectures

SINGAPORE: The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority has lifted the suspension on the import of fruits and vegetables from Shizuoka and Hyogo prefectures.

This after investigations by the Japanese authorities showed that samples of the contaminated vegetables were not from these two prefectures.

Import of vegetables and fruits from Shizuoka and Hyogo prefectures was suspended after AVA detected radioactive contaminants in samples of Japanese mustard spinach and cabbage that were declared to be imported from these two prefectures.

But after investigations by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) of Japan, it has been confirmed that the samples were actually from Saitama and Ibaraki prefectures.

The exporters had made a wrong declaration.

Both Saitama and Ibaraki had already been suspended from exporting food products to Singapore on March 26 and March 23 respectively following the nuclear fallout in the country.

Japanese authorities have done follow-up samples of vegetables from Shizuoka and Hyogo and found them to be safe for consumption.

-CNA/ac

View the original article here

AVA lifts suspension on imports from 2 Japan areas

THE Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) has lifted the suspension on fruit and vegetables from Shizuoka and Hyogo prefectures in Japan.

This follows investigations by the Japanese authorities, which had ascertained that samples of contaminated vegetables were not from these two prefectures.

For more my paper stories click here.

View the original article here