On November 1, the website of the "Potato System" magazine published Get in touch that 228 tons of seed potatoes from Germany, the Netherlands and France were confiscated in Kazakhstan, as well as 46,4 kilograms of carrot seeds from France infected with a dangerous bacterium (Zebra chip).
In response to this publication, the editors received a comment from the Netherlands National Plant Protection Organization (part of the Netherlands Food Safety Authority - NVWA). Here is the text of the message.
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The Kazakh Ministry of Agriculture said several shipments of seed potatoes from the Netherlands, Germany and France were intercepted last spring due to the alleged discovery of the potato chip streak pathogen (Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum).
NVWA questions these findings. The bacteria and its vector are absent in the Netherlands. Moreover, testing of samples from the same batch of potatoes did not reveal any infestation.
It is also surprising that at the same time the same quarantine object was found in seed shipments from Germany. Consultations with the Kazakh authorities did not lead to further clarification or a common understanding of the situation.
Information received to date about test protocols and laboratory procedures used by the Kazakh authorities does not provide an indication of the reliability of the test results.
Based on all this, the NVWA rejects the conclusion that the seed potatoes were infested.
More information:
EPPO-Global database: https://gd.eppo.int/taxon/LIBEPS/distribution