Cheap garlic imported from China is posing a biosecurity risk that could cross-contaminate and potentially devastate New Zealand's $100 million onion industry, Green MP Sue Kedgley warned today.
Biosecurity Minister Jim Sutton has acknowledged, in response to written questions, that garlic purchased from supermarkets could pose a biosecurity risk if consumers planted it.
Nearly all garlic in New Zealand supermarkets is imported from China (about 730 tonnes a year), which can contain diseases such as Aster yellows phytoplasma, which could contaminate onion crops as well as garlic.
"The Government knows this, it has acknowledged the risk, yet it has done nothing about it," said Ms Kedgley, the Green Food Safety spokesperson.
Ms Kedgley said that MAF is aware of the risk and has prohibited commercial growers from planting the garlic imported for consumption — but has failed to tell the supermarket shopper and home gardener. This has growers and industry body Vegfed concerned.
"Gardeners are planting it in ignorance of the effect it could have on our horticulture, because there is no labelling warning them that the garlic may contain diseases and that it shouldn't be planted.
"Only five garlic growers are left in New Zealand because cheap Chinese imports have severely undercut their market. Is the Government content to let these same imports potentially ruin the onion industry as well?" she asked.
"If the Government continues to allow the importation of this cheap garlic, the least it could do is require labelling so that people know not plant it in their gardens."
Garlic cloves imported for planting must undergo much more stringent bio security checks than garlic imported for consumption. This includes inspection, testing or sourcing from pest-free areas, and then a period of quarantine.
"The Government's excuse that labelling is not an effective way to prevent planting is just nonsense," said Ms Kedgley. "This imported garlic is another biosecurity disaster waiting to happen and keeping consumers in the dark is only adding to the problem."
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