The European Plant Protection Organisation has published a list with violations in the field of plant health in a February update. It concerns virus findings or incomplete papers.
The list, incomplete because not all countries have yet submitted their reports, gives an overview of things such as ToBRFV on tomato, bell pepper, and pepper seeds. Whether all reports result in a virus finding after testing, EPPO does not specify in the list.
The list does show that combatting ToBRFV and other viruses is no simple feat due to the large international interconnectedness of the sector and the worldwide shipping of seeds.
Dutch involvement
From the Netherlands, EPPO received reports about ToBRFV violations with seeds from the group capsicum annuum from Israel and Peru.
For solanum lycopersicum, it concerned reports about shipments of seeds from China, Ethiopia, Guatemala, India, Turkey and Japan. EPPO notes that no official reports of ToBRFV in Ethiopia, Guatamala, India, Japan, and Peru have been received by the plant health organisation.
Reversely, Poland reports a ToBRFV violation with seeds from the Netherlands. The list does not show whether this is a finding, and after a tracing investigation, it turned out to involve a seed from Peru which ended up in Poland via the Netherlands. This was reported last summer. It was the first official finding of ToBRFV in Poland.
Piece of the List with notifications of non-compliance from EPPO Reporting Service no. 2021
The list also shows that Italy reported a violated with tomato seed from the Netherlands with the Tomato Aspermy Virus. View the complete list here.