Their import from Europe may be limited due to E. coli

The spread of intestinal infections in EU countries has become a threat to countries importing products from Europe. Yesterday in Russia they introduced a complete ban on the import of vegetables from the EU, and this possibility has not been ruled out in Belarus. Ukraine is not yet ready for such radical measures - the Ministry of Agrarian Policy yesterday only announced tightening control over the import of vegetables into the country. Experts say that the share of European tomatoes and cucumbers on the Ukrainian market is small.

16 people have already died from an intestinal infection (E.coli bacterium), which has spread in a number of EU countries (the total number of cases is 1.4 thousand). Initially, salad cucumbers from Spain were identified as the carrier of the infection, but on Tuesday European authorities said that the source of the disease had not yet been found. Residents of Germany and Sweden became victims of E. coli. New cases of the disease were recorded in the Czech Republic and the USA.

Rospotrebnadzor on Monday introduced a ban on the import of raw vegetables from Spain and Germany, where the first cases of human infection were identified. And yesterday, the Phytosanitary Department of the Russian Federation extended the ban to all types of vegetables from all EU countries. “We are introducing a ban due to the fact that the situation has not been brought under control within a month. The sources of infection and transmission factors have not been identified. The situation has sharply worsened in recent days, so we are forced to take these extremely unpopular measures,” he told the RIA agency News" Chief Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation Gennady Onishchenko.

The ban on the import of vegetables from the EU to the Russian Federation caused a sharp reaction from the European authorities. European Commission representative Frederic Vincent called this measure excessive and inappropriate. According to him, Russia accounts for 25% of the export of all European vegetables, which amounts to 1.1 million tons. Last year, according to Mr. Vincent, the EU supplied vegetables worth 600 million euros to Russia. Belarus did not exclude the possibility of following the example of Russia. Other countries reacted more restrainedly to the situation. For example, the UAE limited the ban only to Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark.

Ukraine refused to introduce an import ban. “For now, we have decided not to take radical measures, but to follow the path of one hundred percent control of the import of all vegetables from the EU,” Nikolai Prisyazhnyuk, head of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, said yesterday. He emphasized that all responsible authorities have been tasked with preventing products that do not meet phytosanitary standards from entering the territory of Ukraine. The general director of the Ukrainian Agricultural Business Club association, Vladimir Lapa, believes that stricter control will most likely mean that the check at customs will last not 1-2 hours, but 5-6 hours. “Therefore, if there are interruptions in the supply of vegetables from the EU, they will be local and short-lived,” the expert noted.

However, yesterday the State Veterinary and Phytosanitary Service announced in a press release that it allows the introduction of a ban on the import of vegetables from EU countries after conducting research on the presence of pathogenic strains of E. coli. The agency obliged the heads of its regional divisions to ensure that samples are taken from consignments of vegetables imported from EU countries for phytosanitary examination. According to the State Veterinary Service, since the beginning of the year, 49 tons of cucumbers have been imported from Spain; in addition, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, eggplant and celery were imported.

Mr. Lapa doubts that the disappearance of European vegetables from the Ukrainian market can significantly affect prices. “Our tomatoes and cucumbers are imported mainly from Turkey, and potatoes from Egypt. For comparison: if we now import about 3 thousand tons of cucumbers, then only 50 tons are from Spain,” he specified. Now there are no cucumbers from Spain on the Ukrainian market, said Andrey Yarmak, head of the analytical agency APK-Inform: Vegetables and Fruits: “The cucumber was imported in early spring, when our domestic prices were quite high.” Mr. Yarmak believes that a ban on the import of cucumbers is necessary to ensure that the population is not exposed to even a theoretical danger.

But Andrey Zabolotny, purchasing director of the Furshet chain, believes that the ban on the import of vegetables from the EU will be critical for Ukraine, since the share of such products in Ukrainian stores is very high: “On average, imported vegetables and fruits occupy about 40% of shelves on the shelves each year. Of these, about half are European."

Elena Sinitsyna, Yuri Panchenko; Oleg Trutnev, Moscow

Vegetables are ripe for infection