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Food safety is a major concern as there are legal authorities that monitor food and beverage standards, but there are safeguards in place for agricultural products before they leave farms or cross borders to reach end consumers. During transportation, there is a risk of contamination and diseases spread by pests and other carriers, which is why agricultural products need to undergo quarantine and inspection through carefully designed techniques and processes to ensure quality control to maintain agricultural product standards regardless of whether they are locally or internationally sourced.
What Is Agricultural Quarantine and Inspection?
Agricultural quarantine or plant quarantine are legally enforced standards aimed at preventing pests and infections from multiplying and spreading to local products that can significantly impact and damage their yields. Typically, agricultural products and food items are inspected before they enter the country or local area to avoid the process of quarantine; however, as a security measure, products can be withheld in restricted areas even after they have gained entry into the region.
There can be significant implications if agricultural quarantine and inspection regulations are not implemented properly as they came into existence when the aphid – grape phylloxera was brought into France from American grape vines over 150 years ago and caused the Great French Wine Blight that led to the decimation of the French wine industry.
Countries have their own unique set of policies and regulations related to agricultural quarantine and inspection as they might be more stringent when it comes to countries where agricultural products heavily contribute to the GDP.
The standard process typically involves government officials in the agricultural quarantine and inspection program intercepting and examining agricultural products at points of entry into the country, including ports and cargo holds. These officials are well versed and trained in identifying healthy crops and food items from damaged ones, and upon identifying products that are infected, they work together with agricultural specialists to enforce a quarantine on the product until they are guaranteed not to possess a threat to any agricultural products grown on local farms and in the wild.
The swift process of inspecting and isolating is effective as foreign agricultural products that have the potential to increase the vulnerability of local crops which are food items to foreign pests and diseases are prevented from coming into contact with local plants.
The agricultural quarantine and inspection process is the first and most effective defense against foreign parasites that can affect the local agricultural and subsequently the food and beverages industry, and it prevents governments from having to invest in pest eradication programs. Additionally, it also prevents local food crops from diminishing in value and diminishes the need for emergency payments for farmers whose crops are damaged by the new pests and diseases.
