News Potatoes
NVWA finds brown rot in the Northern Netherlands
The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) has identified brown rot in 2 batches of seed potatoes (Spunta and Bartina). The parties come from the provinces of Friesland and Groningen. Brown rot was also found in a third (sister) batch in North Holland.
The NVWA will report the news on their website on Friday 26 October website† This year is the second time that the service has identified brown rot in seed potatoes. The infections came to light during regular checks by the NAK inspection service. Both organizations are currently conducting research into further spread of the bacterium.
Research underway
In this follow-up study, a third party of Spunta was declared infected (in North Holland). This is a sister party of the party Bartina in Friesland. Sister parties of other companies are still under investigation, which means that more infections cannot be ruled out, according to the NVWA. Investigation of the strain grower involved has not revealed any contamination. The source has not yet been determined.
Measures have been imposed on the affected companies, for example, the batches of these companies may no longer be planted out. There are also restrictions on the plots and hygiene measures are taken. Sister lots in which the bacterium is not found may also not be planted out.
One infection from 2015
The contamination that came to light this spring is most likely the result of a summer storm in July 2015 at a log cultivation company in Friesland. The same storm was cited as the cause of infections identified in 2016 and 2017. The current contamination is probably also the result of this. However, this has not been confirmed.
Niels van der Boom
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