The Ministry of Agriculture (ŽŪM) announced together with the State Food and Veterinary Service (VMVT) that it is strengthening the control of vegetables imported into Lithuania, thus aiming to prevent their illegal import from Russia.
According to the ministry, this is done in response to the previous statements of the country’s vegetable growers that cucumbers and tomatoes grown in Russia enter Lithuania through Belarus and Poland by falsifying their origin documents.
“We have heard suspicions that there may be an attempt to import Russian vegetables into Lithuania, stating that they are grown in the European Union. That is why we have strengthened the verification of information provided to consumers about the country of origin of fresh fruit and vegetables. The safety of the products is checked by laboratory tests”, said the head of VMVT, Audronė Mikalauskienė, in the report.
The Ministry announces that laboratory tests of products entering Lithuania are being carried out, and the use of the Austrian laboratory is also being considered when determining the origin of fruits and vegetables. The representatives of VMVT performing the control also cooperate with their colleagues in Poland.
According to the head of VMVT, the results of laboratory tests obtained so far met the requirements of legal acts.
The Deputy Minister of Agriculture Vytenis Tomkus reiterates that the most effective restrictions on products imported from Russia would work on the scale of the entire European Union (EU).
“Once goods enter the EU common market, it is much more difficult to control their movement afterwards. Therefore, we should aim to limit the entry of these goods into it”, said V. Tomkus in the report.
At the beginning of April, the Lithuanian Greenhouse Association announced that Russian-grown vegetables, mainly cucumbers and tomatoes, were entering Lithuania through Belarus and Poland after falsified origin documents.
According to vegetable growers, such production in Lithuania is sold several times cheaper than local or grown in Poland or Latvia.
In March, Lithuania, together with Latvia, Estonia, Poland and the Czech Republic, called on the European Commission (EC) to analyze the possibility of limiting the import of food products originating in Russia and Belarus to the Community.
