FRUCOM Open Discussion and Working Group Meeting

The aim of the Discussion Round was to share experiences on sustainability and make recommendations to FRUCOM. Some examples of sustainability in tree nuts were explained by the Almond Board of California (ABC) and the American Pistachio Growers (APG). Ms. Julie Adams, Vice President, Global Technical & Regulatory Affairs, ABC, presented the California almond sustainability program and the 2025 Almond Orchard Goals. The importance of benchmarking as a way to compare sustainability programs was highlighted. Ms. Judy Hirigoyen, Vice President, Global Marketing, APG, showed some real experiences of different pistachio growers in California. Mr. David Black, Program Officer Fresh and Ingredients, explained The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IHD) and the Sustainable Nut Initiative (SNI), a pre-competitive platform with members from the cashew value chain and civil society. Finally, Mr. Varun Trivedi, Vice-president, Olam Europe B.V., drew the attention to the need to reimagine global agriculture and food systems.
 
FRUCOM’s Working Group Dried Fruits & Nuts brought representatives of the European Commission DG SANTE, who gave an update on contaminants (aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, mineral oils, perchlorate, furan and alternaria toxins, cyanogenic glycosides, acrylamide) and informed about the latest changes to the control frequency at EU borders and the modernized system for border controls. A representative of EC DG-AGRI gave an overview of the organic sector as well as imports of organic nuts and dried fruits in the EU. She also explained the reform of the organic regulation (Regulation (EU) 2018/848) adopted in May 2018.