Russia continues to intercept and destroy banned European fruit on a weekly basis, but seldom do we see Australia come up in the country's food safety watchdog announcements.

On Feb. 17, Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) announced officials in the  Domodedovo International Airport outside Moscow detained a consignment of Australian nectarines that was in violation of the sanctions regime.

The watchdog also claimed the 1.3 metric ton (MT) shipment had examples of brown rot as well.

"Dangerous products are destroyed under the supervision of the Rosselkhoznadzor specialists," the service said.

Through counter-sanctions implemented in August, 2014, the world's largest country banned imports of a range of food products from the Europe, Norway, Canada, the U.S. and Australia.

Albania, Montenegro, Iceland, Liechtenstein and the Ukraine have since been added to the list due to their support for sanctions from the West, while the Kremlin also imposed a ban on the majority of Turkish fresh fruit imports starting this year after the downing of a Russian jet near the Syrian border last November.

This week, Rosselkhoznadzor has announced the interception of substantial volumes of different fruits and vegetables from Turkey, Poland and Spain as well.

Russia's food safety watchdog opted for 'disposal by means of mechanical processing' for an illegal shipment of Turkish citrus.

Headline photo: www.shutterstock.com

www.freshfruitportal.com