Russia will introduce a temporary ban on the import of eggplants from Turkey from April 25. As stated in Rosselkhoznadzor, the reason was the continued supply of Turkish eggplants “infected with quarantine organisms for Russia.”

Photo: DPA/TASS

Rosselkhoznadzor will introduce temporary restrictions on the supply of Turkish eggplants from April 25, reported the agency’s press service . The reason, the press service noted, was the “continuing arrival from Turkey of commercial shipments of eggplants infected with quarantine organisms for Russia.”

At the beginning of this week, the head of Rosselkhoznadzor, Sergei Dankvert, allowed a ban on the import of Turkish eggplants. Answering a question from journalists whether Rosselkhoznadzor decided to expand the list of products from Turkey prohibited for phytosanitary reasons, he stated that the department has such grounds.

was published on the Rosselkhoznadzor website The day before, on April 19, a message that when a batch of eggplants from Turkey weighing almost 16 tons arrived at the port of Gelendzhik, inspectors found live Western (California) flower thrips in the products.

Eggplants themselves are not subject to the embargo imposed by Russia on Turkish food products, Rosselkhoznadzor noted, but the import of contaminated cargo is prohibited. The department emphasized that Western flower thrips was found in Turkish eggplants for the fourth time in 2016.

The food embargo on Turkish products was introduced on January 1, 2016 as a response to the Turkish Air Force attack on the Russian Su-24 bomber. The ban includes tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, cauliflower, broccoli, fresh and dried oranges, tangerines and their hybrids, fresh apples, pears, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums and sloe, as well as berries - grapes, wild strawberries and strawberries.

In mid-March, Rosselkhoznadzor, for phytosanitary reasons, banned the import of Turkish peppers and pomegranates to Russia .

Russia has suspended the import of Turkish eggplants