The Russian Agriculture Monitoring Service in Astrakhan has halted a
shipment of 61.5 tons of Iranian potatoes infected with potato moth,
an official said on Wednesday, RIA Novosti reports.
The infection was revealed on December 24 on the Flestina-5 vessel from Iran.
The shipment was taken to a quarantine area. After revealing the
infection experts decided not to return the product to its supplier.
Specialists say they can disinfect it in Astrakhan.
This is the fourth such case since November 2010. The monitoring
service confiscated over 250 tons of infected potatoes from Iran. In
the previous cases the potatoes were returned to the supplier. The
potato moth (Phthorimaea operculella Zell) is a dangerous pest in
Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Australia. It ruins potatoes,
tomatoes, pepper, squash, tobacco and other wild plants. The pest can
withstand low temperatures.
