Thai durians have passed tests for Basic Yellow 2 (BY2), a carcinogenic colouring substance, at the Youyiguan Border Gate, allowing the resumption of exports to China following a ban on Jan 10, the Office of Agricultural Affairs (OAA) at the Royal Thai Consulate-General in Guangzhou said on Friday.
The General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) announced on Jan 10 that all imported durian must undergo pre-export screening measures and pass the Basic Yellow 2 test to ensure safety standards.
When the goods arrive at the import port in China, customs officials will also randomly sample durian from every container to test for Basic Yellow 2 in a laboratory.
The OAA in Guangzhou said on Thursday that on Jan 20, three containers of Thai durian were imported through the Youyiguan border checkpoint and passed a BY2 lab test.
The durians were released the next day, just in time for Chinese New Year celebrations, according to the OAA.
The screening was wrapped up faster than the estimated three days due to the volume of items being imported during the period.
The OAA will also consult with the customs gate over BY2 screening. Protocols laid down for the Lunar New Year holiday starting from Jan 28 to Feb 4 will provide essential information to Thai exporters, the OAA said.
On Wednesday, Chaisak Rinkluan, director of the Plant and Agricultural Materials Control Office of the Department of Agriculture (DoA), informed the DoA about the export delay.
The GACC detected BY2 in seven containers carrying durian and two containers containing longan from Thailand.
He said the DoA then suspended the issuance of phytosanitary certificates (PC), an official document that verifies that fruits are safe to import or export, to eight warehouses, including six durian ones in Chumphon, Chanthaburi and Nakhon Si Thammarat.
There were also two other longan warehouses in Chiang Mai and Chanthaburi.
The suspension took effect on Wednesday and will continue until they improve food safety standards, Mr Chaisak said.
"The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives reiterates that all durian shipments must be rigorously inspected before they are exported to China," he said.
"We do not want contaminated durians to destroy the billion-baht Thai durian market. We also want to provide Chinese consumers with a unique gift of delicious Thai durians during their Chinese New Year celebrations," he added.
Additionally, the DoA inspected and tested a consignment of durians before they were exported to China by air from Suvarnabhumi airport on Tuesday.
