VietNamNet Bridge - Nearly 700 tons of peanuts in 35 containers imported from India to Hai Phong Port contain harmful insects, according to customs officers.

Vu Van Huong, director of the Department of Plant Quarantine I, said quarantine staff found live insects, with the scientific name of Caryedon serratus Olivier, in eight batches of peanuts imported by five companies. This insect has not been seen before in Vietnam, they said.

According to a circular issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development last year, the insect Caryedon serratus Olivier is included in the Group I category of "harmful organisms that may cause serious damage to plants, which have not been found in the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam".

After the discovery of harmful insects, the quarantine agency used chemicals to kill the insects and requested a halt to customs clearance procedures for the shipments.

In recent years, the quarantine agency has detected many batches of imported agricultural products containing pathogens or harmful insects. It has forced re-export of tens of thousands of tons of goods and imposed administrative fines worth millions of US dollars.

S. Tung