Rabat – Russia’s agricultural watchdog, Rosselkhozandor, has reportedly blocked a Moroccan tomato shipment from entering Russian territory due to the alleged detection of two types of viruses.
Russian news outlet Newkaliningrad said the agency staff carried out “quarantine phytosanitary inspections” on three tomato shipments totaling 22 tons.
About eight tons of tomato produce from Morocco and Turkey were banned from entering the Russian market, the same source added.
“As a result of the inspection, the tomato brown rugose fruit virus and the pepino mosaic virus were found in the fresh tomatoes,” the website quoted the agency as saying.
It claimed that the detection of the virus was confirmed by a laboratory report.
“To prevent the spread of quarantine diseases within the Russian Federation, the import of the contaminated 8-ton batch has been prohibited,” the agency announced.
Morocco has, in recent years, positioned itself as one of the largest exporters of tomatoes worldwide.
In the past two decades, the country climbed from fifth to third place among the world’s leading exporters.
Morocco now ships at least 767,000 tons of fresh tomatoes abroad annually, more than triple of the quantity it used to export in 2005.
