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What methods
are available to adequately prevent transmission of seedborne
pathogens?
The methods we
used are mainly preventative.
In order to minimize pathogen transmission, the production
fields are frequently and regularly inspected by the Israeli
Plant Protection and Inspection Service (PPIS) during the
entire production cycle, from planting to harvest. Post
harvest, if there is a specific requirement, the seeds are
checked for pathogens in a laboratory and shipment can be made
based on the test results. For example: all lettuce seed is
checked for virus, basil seed is checked for Fusarium Wilt,
and so on.
An additional major problem that has to be addressed is
weeds. Noxious weed seeds are a major problem because they can be
transmitted with the seeds. Organic growers have to take
very special care. There are noxious weeds that are totally prohibited,
with zero tolerance, such as Sorghum halepense, and
others that are classified as ‘restricted’ noxious weeds with
a specific tolerance level such as 18-seeds/ lb. for Wild
Mustard or 9 seeds/lb. for Solanum nigrum. Thus the
presence of even less than 0.001% of some noxious weeds can
disqualify the seeds for export. The main methods of avoiding
noxious weeds in shipments are preventative and require very
strict weed control by the growers and very strict monitoring
procedures during processing and quality control. |
