Russia halts 20 tons of grapes from Uzbekistan due to dangerous weed

A 20.1-ton shipment of grapes delivered from Uzbekistan to Russia’s city of Samara underwent quarantine phytosanitary inspection. During the inspection, the grapes were found to contain a dangerous weed known as dodder.

The finding was confirmed by a special herbological examination conducted at the Samara branch of the "VNIIZJ" institution.

Dodder is a parasitic weed that twines around nearby plants and seriously damages their development. If its seeds fall into the soil, they can spread across an area of several square meters. For this reason, the plant is monitored as a quarantine object.

Rosselxoznadzor banned the sale and circulation of the contaminated grapes in Russia. The owner of the shipment will have to return the products or destroy them under supervision.