Julio Ruiz-Tagle, Asia & Americas Manager of D-Quality Survey, told Freshfruitportal.com, "Today (March 11), the first container of fruit from the Maersk Saltoro vessel was destroyed, and it took approximately two hours.”

Claudia Soler, the executive director of the Chilean Fruit Cherry Committee, confirmed this information, saying that “the first container was indeed destroyed.”

Soler added that on Saturday, March 8, Chinese customs completed the inspection process of the fruit and “now private inspections are being carried out”.

For his part, Ruiz-Tagle explained that to destroy the fruit, the wooden pallets from the loads at customs had to be removed. Then, the 20 tons of cherries were transferred to a hopper truck to be sent to the destruction site.

He also indicated that more centers are being sought to dispose of the fruit. In the first destruction, “private inspections were added; given the volume, it was a kind of test since they had to analyze the logistics,” he said.

Soler pointed out that the destruction was done in a place approved by customs, under the supervision of Chinese customs personnel. “The fruit is transported in trucks after the pallets are removed.”

She added that the Chinese authorities deliver inspection times and define places to destroy the fruit.

“That is done by order of request to perform private inspections, so you make the request, and they will schedule you. Then they assign you different sites for the destruction”.

She specified that the exporter would receive a document of the customs inspection and the certificate of rejection of the fruit.

Finally, Soler specified that Customs is still developing the destruction process and protocol. She emphasized that “this first destruction was an initial test.”

This is a developing story...