The European Commission (EC) has decided to maintain the reinforced controls on Turkish lemons for the 2018-2019 season beginning in September, according to Spanish grower association AILIMPO.

AILIMPO said the checks are aimed at ensuring compliance with EU rules on maximum pesticide residue limits, as the EC believes they still constitute a risk.

They will remain in place on a minimum of 10% of batches imported into the economic bloc.

"During the 2017-2018 season, the European Commission announced 8 health warnings related to an excess of pesticide residues in Turkish lemons, through its Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF)," the association said.

"As a result, some batches of Turkish lemons were rejected by official European authorities, prohibiting their entry and sale in the European Union. These rejections were due to the detection of residues of chlorpyrifos and imazalil in significantly higher amounts than permitted by the Maximum Residue Levels (MRL) established in EU regulations.

"These 8 health alerts notified through the European database RASFF provide key information for European distribution chains, by highlighting the problems that Turkish lemons have in meeting EU food safety standards."

AILIMPO said Turkish lemons will be subject to the stricter controls until at least the end of the year.