A number of 82 tonnes of apples declared as being from Moldova were destroyed in Smolensk region of Russia. In a press release, Russia’s food safety watchdog “Rosselkhoznadzor” says the apples didn’t have the necessary phytosanitary certificates and the labels were damaged. After the apples were crushed, they were buried, IPN reports.
The National Food Safety Agency of Moldova in a press statement confirmed that it didn’t issue authorizing documents for the export of the given batch of apples and officials of “Rosselkhoznadzor” for their part confirmed that the certificates of origin and accompanying documents weren’t genuine.
According to the Agency, the owner of the batch of apples confirmed that the documents were false. But the businessman, who lives in the Russian Federation, provided no evidence to show that the apples were from Moldova. He consented to crushing the apples.
At the start of June, 17 tonnes of Moldovan apricots were sent back from Russia by inspectors of “Rosselkhoznadzor” for the reason that the fruits were infected with Oriental moth (Grapholitha molesta Busck).
