5 November 2009 - EU Member States agreed also to impose special conditions and increased official controls governing the imports of pears originating in or consigned from Turkey after controls repeatedly indicated high levels of the pesticide amitraz in Turkish pears.
The levels of amitraz were exceeding the acceptable threshold (Acute Reference Dose).
The Member States unanimously endorsed a draft Commission Decision on this issue, during today's meeting of the Standing Committee of the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCoFCAH).
From now on Member States should control at least 10 percent of consignments of pears originating from Turkey for the presence of amitraz at import.
Consignments already on the market should also be subject to adequate official controls.
The Member States should report to the Commission any unfavourable result of the laboratory analysis through the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed and, on a fortnightly basis, all results including the favourable ones. Based on this information the measure will be reviewed regularly and adapted, if needed.