Quality control on all export fruits to be improved

TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2025

The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry is to improve quality control on all export fruits after Chinese customs checkpoints have been ordered to check Basic Yellow 2 lab test results on durians strictly.

A meeting of the ministry’s fruit board was held on Tuesday after Thai durians exported to Nanning Wuxu International Airport were rejected for not attaching lab-test results for organic compounds used for fabrics, paper, leather and house paint. 

The World Health Organisation has declared Basic Yellow 2 as comprising group 2B carcinogens, which could put people at risk of developing cancer.

The board has approved raising quality control on export fruits to 100%, covering cadmium, durian worms and sulphur dioxide in longans. Violators could face penalties.

The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry and relevant agencies have deployed officials to fruit-packing houses to check fruit quality, especially in Chumphon and Nakhon Si Thammarat where new batches of durians are gradually released to the market, minister Narumon Pinyosinwat said.

She said the ministry will implement new fruit quality control within 10 days to boost consumers’ confidence in Thai durians. The ministry has collaborated with the Department of Internal Trade to deal with durian prices, she added.

Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Narumon Pinyosinwat

Narumon said she and Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra will talk with the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China to affirm Thailand’s strict measures to boost confidence in the quality of Thai vegetables and fruits.

Quality control on all export fruits to be improved

According to the Department of Agriculture, Thailand exported 1.82 million tonnes of fruits worth 134.95 billion baht in 2024, of which 824,777 tonnes were durians and 375,327 tonnes were longans. 

The department has plans to export longans to the Philippines in a bid to expand fruit exports further.