Almost six tonnes of fruits and vegetables from Vietnam were seized and destroyed by Customs and Excise officials in Kandal and Kampot provinces after they were found to contain harmful pesticides.
Moung Dara, the chief of the mobile Customs and Excise team at the Chrey Thom international checkpoint located in Koh Thom district, told The Post on Wednesday that his team found 5.5 tonnes being transported on 10 trucks.
Customs and Excise officials and CamControl seized six kinds of vegetable from Vietnam, including spinach, garlic chive, lemon (for lemon tea), Laiheang flower, pumpkin and cauliflower. These vegetables contained high levels of agricultural pesticides that can be harmful to health.
“We forbid importing these types of vegetables and advised sellers to stop importing them, but they still refused to listen.
“To protect consumer health we destroyed the produce and made the sellers sign a contract not to import these kinds of vegetable anymore. If they continue doing so, we will arrest them and send the cases to court,” Dara said.
CamControl in Kampot worked in collaboration with police on Wednesday at the Prek Chak checkpoint to carry out quality-control inspections on imported produce from Vietnam. They found 500kg of longan containing agricultural pesticides which they destroyed.
