NAO and NVWA reveal possibilities
GROWERS of ware potatoes in England and Wales are now allowed to import seed potatoes directly from the Netherlands.
At the request of the Dutch Potato Organization (NAO), the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) investigated the possibilities for exporting Dutch seed potatoes to the UK. One of the suggested options, direct import by growers in England and Wales without putting seed potatoes on the market locally, “appears to be possible”, according to a report by Netherlands-based Potato World.
The British Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) indicates that ware potato growers may import seed potatoes directly from the Netherlands to England and Wales. In this case, the ware potato grower must be the importer and may not put the imported seed potatoes on the market. In addition, a phytosanitary certificate is required for imports, which must state, among other things, that the seed potatoes are free of potato ring rot and brown rot, explains the NAO secretary.Content continues after advertisementshttps://25bb71e4986bd80f9a0aa902b281d98f.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.htmlhttps://25bb71e4986bd80f9a0aa902b281d98f.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
Within the protected area in Northern England, the direct import of seed potatoes is only possible if the area to be planted is less than 0.1 hectare, or if the seed potatoes are intended for planting for the production of early potatoes. The direct import option for England and Wales is not applicable in Scotland, where growers are only allowed to plant seed potatoes that have been marketed under the Seed Potato (Scotland) Regulations 2015. This is not the case when the seed potatoes are directly imported by the grower.
