‘Take heed of pest control protocols’

IMPORTING COUNTRIES adopt special protocols known as in-transit cold treatments to ensure the eradication of certain pests that may be present in the fruit or packaging before it is discharged in their country. The idea is that maintaining the cargo at a specific temperature for a specified period of time, will kill the pests, the most predominant being the Mediterranean Fruit Fly and False Codling Moth. Countries to which we export that have these protocols are Japan, South Korea, Taiwan (all citrus only), U.S.A (citrus and deciduous), Israel (grapes), Sri Lanka (citrus and deciduous) and Bangladesh (apples only). Their protocols are enforced in South Africa by the National Department of Agriculture, PPECB and in the case of certain countries, representatives of their Departments of Agriculture. Phytosanitary inspection In most cases the fruit must undergo a phytosanitary inspection by our Departments of Agriculture and the representative of the importing country before being approved for export. The fruit can only come from farms approved for export to these countries. A database of approved farms is available on the National Department of Agriculture’s website, www.nda.agric.za. The shipping process is controlled by the PPECB. Fruit can only be packed and stored at packhouses and coldstores specially approved by them for export to these destinations. Fruit must be stored for a minimum specified time before loading can commence. For most of the protocols, temperature probes need to be inserted into the pulp of the fruit at specific positions in the container. The PPECB do this and the success of the cold treatment will depend on the temperatures recorded by these probes. The probes are calibrated by the PPECB prior to every shipment. Temperature monitored Once the container is loaded the PPECB official will monitor the probe temperatures and the cold treatment will commence once all the probes are within the prescribed tolerance. Success or failure of the cold treatment is evaluated once the container is discharged in the country of destination. The temperature at which most cold treatment fruit is carried is close to the temperatures at which cold damage can occur, so the effective pre-cooling of the product to the carrying temperature without cold damaging it, is critical to a successful shipment. Different countries require different periods of time at these temperatures and careful consideration of the various protocols and their risks should be undertaken before exporting fruit to these destinations. Some countries have fall back clauses for instances where the pulp temperatures exceed the required temperature and the cold treatment does not fail, but the treatment cycle is extended for a longer period at a slightly warmer temperature. Other countries don’t and if the pulp temperature ever exceeds the required temperature the cold treatment fails and the cycle must start from the beginning. Protocols for the different cold treatment destinations are available on the PPECB website, www.ppecb.com.