Azerbaijan, Baku, March 30 /Trend I.Khalilova/
Azerbaijani customs authorities will have to strengthen controls over exports of dried fruit and other plant products from the country, a spokesman for the State Phytosanitary Control Service under the Ministry of Agriculture of Azerbaijan Bachmann Huseynov told Trend on Friday.
"With regards to the facts identified by the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision of Russia, we have formally requested the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan to strengthen control over food to be exported, including those in hand luggage," Huseynov said.
Poor quality product samples were found in commercial batches of products and in the hand luggage of passengers. Nine cases of quarantine products imported from Azerbaijan, 130 cases from Uzbekistan, 228 cases from Tajikistan to Russia from 2011 to the present time.
"According to our information, nine instances of the exportation of substandard legumes (peas and lobby) were found in small numbers in some of the baggage of persons traveling in three Russian regions - Tyumen, Rostov and the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District" Huseynov said. "These were small quantities intended for personal use."
The minimum weight of low-quality goods amounted to 560 grams and the maximum was 4.7 kilograms.
"There is no issue of banning imports of dried plant products from Azerbaijan to Russia, because we have not even received an official request from the Russian side on this issue." Hasanov said "These are isolated cases with regard to Azerbaijan, whereas the highest number of cases with regard to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan."
The civil service in the phytosanitary control of Azerbaijan noted that products for laboratory tests can be provided by the citizens themselves in countries that require the provision of a certificate of the quality on crop production, regardless of weight. For example, in the U.S. it is impossible to bring in two apples.
In this case that is, for deliveries to Russia, food is sent for laboratory testing when there is a suspicion by customs authorities about the quality of the product because there is no requirement to present such a certificate for a small amount, especially imports in hand luggage.
Azerbaijani State Customs Committee believes that the deterioration in the quality of the product may occur after passing customs control, because of non-compliance with the conditions of transport and storage.