Oranges and Lemons destroyed

IMPORTATION authorities in China have destroyed an estimated 20 tonnes of citrus fruits imported from Spain. They were suspicious about the origins of the fruit as it didn’t have the mandatory paperwork and the fruit was not packaged correctly. 

The shipment was consequently deemed as illegal. Samuel Juárez, the agricultural advisor at the Spanish Embassy in China revealed, “Since the documents were irregular, there is the possibility that the fruit was not even Spanish to begin with.”

The oranges and lemons had a value of around €14,000 according to reports in Chinese news. Staff noticed that some sections of the shipment had not been packaged correctly and much of the fruit was covered in mildew. The shipment in its entirety was tipped into a landfill and treated with lime before being covered in earth. This was necessary in order to prevent possible outbreaks of the Mediterranean fruit fly, one of the world’s most destructive fruit pests.

The first Spanish shipments to the Asian country did not begin until 2014, and last year exports of fruit to China amounted to around €3million.

Thankfully, the agricultural advisor also stated that he didn’t think this incident would affect future trading as “correct action was taken.”