The amount of findings of the Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV), has increased to 21, as seen in the newest update of the Dutch Food and Commodities Authority (NVWA). The latest find was on Goeree Overflakkee.
The amount of 'heavy suspicions' is now 1. That is 2 less than the latest update of March 19, when there were 19 finds and 3 suspicions.
An overview of all findings (per Dutch district):
- 9 in Westland district
- 5 in Hollands Kroon district
- 2 in Brielle district
- 1 in Reimerswaal district
- 1 in Haarlemmermeer district
- 1 in Midden-Delfland district
- 1 in Horst aan de Maas district
- 1 in Goeree Overflakkee district
Reporting obligation
The NVWA keeps highlighting that the virus is harmless for humans, and calls to growers to report suspicions of contamination.
Which they are obligated to do by the way, seeing as there's a reporting obligation since November 1, set by the European Commission for the quarantine organism.
Contaminated seed lots
ToBRFV can affect tomato, bell pepper and Spanish pepper. For bell and Spanish pepper, the symptoms under Dutch conditions are still unclear, writes the NVWA. In Italy, the virus was already found in bell pepper.
In the mean time, the virus was found on multiple (import) seed lots of tomato, bell pepper and Spanish pepper from China, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and Peru earlier.