Finnish Customs monitors the health of fresh fruits and vegetables brought into Finland from outside the EU by performing document controls and phytosanitary controls. The goal of the controls is to ensure that plant diseases or quarantine plant pests will not be able to spread into EU territory from outside the EU.
In 2019, a total of 794 import consignments containing fruits and vegetables subject to phytosanitary controls were brought into Finland. The number of import consignments fell by 38 % from the year before. The largest product groups were citrus fruits, apples and mangoes. An inspection of documents was carried out for all consignments. Moreover, physical phytosanitary controls were performed on 559 consignments. No deficiencies in terms of plant health were detected during the controls.
Customs is also responsible for the monitoring of fresh fruits and vegetables being brought into Finland from outside the EU and from other EU member states for their compliance with marketing standards. The quality of fresh fruits and vegetables must comply with the minimum standards imposed by EU legislation as well as with the specific marketing standards applied to ten products.
In 2019, 903 consignments containing citrus fruits, apples and grapes subject to compliance checks were brought into Finland from countries outside the EU. Altogether 467 consignments were subjected to physical compliance checks, and 28 of these consignments were rejected. The reasons for rejection were that the products were bruised, rotten or mouldy or contained physiological defects or contaminants. Of the consignments that were rejected, five were destroyed in their entirety under the supervision of Customs. Improvements were made to the rest, after which the import of the consignments was allowed.
