Irradiation for lychee exported to Australia

To export to the Australian market, fresh lychees from Vietnam must meet five requirements, including irradiation treatment...

On June 23, batches of fresh lychees exported to the Australian market were irradiated for the first time at the Hanoi Irradiation Center.

Luc Ngan litchi (Bac Giang) must meet 5 requirements to be exported to the Australian market - (Photo: Tran Quang)

This is the result of close cooperation and active participation of the Hanoi Irradiation Center, the Plant Protection Department and Australian authorities, the Australian Embassy in Vietnam and businesses.

Thereby, lychee exported to Australia will be processed in Hanoi, without having to be transported to the South, contributing to reducing costs and saving transportation time.

According to Australian regulations, fresh lychees from Vietnam that want to be exported to the Australian market must meet five requirements. These are growing areas, packaging facilities, packaging and labeling, irradiation treatment and quarantine.

Specifically, lychee growing areas and facilities must apply cultivation, pest management and harvesting measures to ensure minimizing pests on lychee fruit, apply good agricultural practices (GAP) and be inspected and given a code by the Plant Protection Department.

At the same time, the facility must establish and maintain records and production logs. The exported fabric must not be infected with pests, must not be contaminated with soil, must not be mixed with products from growing areas that have not been assigned a code, and must be stored in boxes with clearly marked information to facilitate traceability.

The lychee packaging facility must also be registered and inspected by the Plant Protection Department, and be given a code. Before each lychee export season, the packaging facility must be inspected, evaluated, and recognized by the Plant Protection Department as meeting Australian import conditions.

Regarding packaging and labeling, the packaging of lychees exported to Australia must ensure that the contamination of harmful organisms is limited, with gaps or holes being smaller than 1.6mm. The carton containing the lychees must clearly state the code of the lychee growing facility, packaging facility and processing facility. At the same time, clearly state in English “Treated with ionizing irradiation” or “Treated with ionizing electrons” or “Irradiated (food)”, and the logo required for irradiated food can be printed on the carton packaging.

For irradiation treatment, fabrics exported to Australia must be treated at irradiation facilities recognized by the Plant Protection Department according to prescribed dosages under the supervision of Vietnamese plant quarantine officers.

After the above procedures, the exported fabric must be quarantined to meet Australian import requirements and have a Phytosanitary Certificate (Certificate) issued by the Vietnamese plant quarantine agency.

It clearly states: “This batch of fruit is produced in Vietnam, meeting the conditions for importing fresh lychees into Australia and complying with the regulations of the Program for exporting irradiated lychees from Vietnam to Australia”. The treatment measures section on the Certificate clearly states “Lowest irradiation dose 400 Gy”./.

According to VOV