Ministry of Agriculture expedites investigation into durian exports contaminated with cadmium

The Permanent Secretary of Agriculture revealed that he has ordered the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Agricultural Extension to inspect durian orchards and longan warehouses to find the cause of durian exported to China being contaminated with cadmium, causing Chinese customs to issue a warning to Thailand. Initially, it is expected that it is not the product of farmers in the southern region. He is urgently searching for secret information to solve the problem so that it does not affect exports. Mr. Prayoon Insakul, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, said that he has ordered the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Agricultural Extension to urgently investigate the case where the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China (GACC) notified Thailand that durians were contaminated with cadmium. He asked Thailand to temporarily suspend exports from export companies (PCs), packing houses (Long), and GAP orchards that have en countered problems. He also asked Thailand to strictly control the export of durians that may be contaminated with cadmium. From the initial investigation, it is expected that they are not the products of farmers in the southern region, so secret information about the source of the durians is requested. When the cause and origin are known, the GACC will respond. Mr. Patchayaphon Muenchaeng, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Agriculture, said that since March 11 until now, China has warned that durian exported from Thailand was contaminated with cadmium 6 times, covering 16 shipments from 12 packing plants and 15 production orchards. The Department of Agriculture has ordered an immediate suspension of exports and sent officials to collect samples of durian, soil, water, and production factors to check for contamination. Initial inspection results found samples contaminated with cadmium, but not exceeding the standard set by China of no more than 0.05 milligrams per kilogram. The Department of Agri culture is investigating the exact cause and determining preventive measures for the problem. It has assigned the Plant Product Standards and Certification System Development Division to invite packing houses and exporters to discuss and determine 11 steps for randomly sampling durian between September 2-16, which will export 5 fruits per shipment and send them to be tested for cadmium at 6 ISO-certified laboratories. Exporters will have to pay the cost of 800-1,200 baht, including shipping costs. At the same time, it was confirmed that China has not suspended the import of durian from Thailand. Operators can still export as usual. There is no impact on the issuance of phytosanitary certificates (PC). The Deputy Director-General of the Department of Agriculture added that the Department of Agriculture has assigned plant quarantine stations to continuously monitor the smuggling of fresh durian from neighboring countries to prevent any impact on the price of Thai durian. Thai consumers will not be able to eat quality durian, and Thai durian may be disguised as export to important markets such as China. In addition, it is a prevention, control, and surveillance of diseases and pests that may cause the spread of serious pests and damage economic crops and the country's plant production system. The Department of Agriculture has therefore integrated with the Naga Task Force, the Customs Department, and security agencies in the area to strictly monitor the situation to prevent smuggling, especially at border checkpoints. For the policy of driving quality durian production for export to China, the quality inspection process and phytosanitary certification for durian exports have been upgraded, including measures to control the import of fresh durian from abroad, which must be declared for import through plant quarantine checkpoints. From the durian import data for processing, it was found that there were imports from Cambodia in the amount of 42.6 tons, Indonesia in the amount of 0.83 tons, while in May 2024, they wer e able to arrest the smuggling of fresh durian from Cambodia in Sa Kaeo Province, so 5.049 kilograms of goods were seized and charges were filed for importing fresh durian plants without going through customs and not requesting permission to import from the Department of Agriculture's Plant Inspection Checkpoint. The measures to control the import and prevent the smuggling of fresh durian will be a mechanism to inspect the goods together with the Customs Department, which the Department of Agriculture has created an understanding of the guidelines with relevant parties to maintain the reputation and market of Thai durian, which is an agricultural product that is important to the country's economy. Source: Thai News Agency