Without this tMRL, for which the entire European potato chain has worked, the situation for most potato sheds would have been dramatic.
Belpotato.be reminds the potato sector of the importance of staying proactive in this matter:
– The use of the CIPC in the 2020-2021 harvest is absolutely prohibited. The use of this chemical germ inhibitor risks questioning the credibility of all the measures taken so far by the sector. The absolute prohibition of use is included in many potato supply contracts from the 2020 harvest and the phytosanitary authorities also monitor compliance with the legislation;
– The cleaning of the sheds and equipment is indispensable in order to comply with the tMRL: a protocol has been drawn up by the European Potato Coalition, which was widely disseminated (e.g. via the online seminar that you can find on www.belpotato.be, or through the documents with a checklist that are also available on www.belpotato.be) ;
– The monitoring of pollution in 1000 Belgian potato sheds during the coming season will show the extent to which these sheds are ready for the new standard. In addition, this data will also be used to maintain the European tMRL for the time it is needed. Finally, the European Commission wants to move towards the MRL of 0.01 ppm.
We return in a later message to the large sampling plan set up by Belgapom for our country.
