On The Land
1 October, 2026
Government suspends imported fresh pomelo
FNQ Growers says the suspension of fresh pomelo imports from Vietnam provides strong evidence to support Australian horticultural industry concerns about the reliability of offshore biosecurity measures.
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry published import conditions for Vietnamese pomelos in April 2026, allowing trade to commence shortly afterwards.
Imports were suspended from 15 September after pest and disease symptoms of biosecurity concern were found on some consignments and an in-country audit identified failures in the implementation, oversight and verification of agreed phytosanitary measures.
FNQ Growers president Joe Moro said the pathway had failed within an extraordinarily short timeframe.
“Within approximately five months of trade commencing, the department had lost assurance that the agreed measures were being implemented effectively and concluded that Australia’s required level of protection was no longer being achieved,” he said.
“The Australian border system detected the concerning fruit and the department acted, but that fruit should have been identified or removed before it was exported.
“This shows that an import protocol can appear satisfactory on paper but still fail when it is implemented under normal commercial conditions.”
The department has confirmed that Asian citrus psyllid and citrus canker were not detected and that fruit presenting an unacceptable risk was destroyed or exported.
However, FNQ Growers said the incident validated concerns raised by horticultural industries in submissions concerning other proposed import pathways.
In its submission regarding decrowned pineapple imports from India and Indonesia, the organisation questioned variations between packing houses, inconsistent cleaning and inspection procedures, reliance on manual pest removal, the practical effectiveness of a systems approach and the limitations of planned overseas audits.
“The department’s pomelo FAQs say implementation, oversight and verification of the agreed measures were insufficient,” Mr Moro said.
“That is exactly why growers have repeatedly warned that written protocols and initial verification are not enough. The system must work consistently on every farm, in every packing facility and across every consignment.”
FNQ Growers is calling for the lessons from the pomelo failure to be formally considered in all current and future fresh produce import assessments.
It is also seeking the public release of further details about the affected pomelo consignments and audit findings, together with stronger ongoing verification and risk-based unannounced audits of offshore systems.
“This is not just about pomelos,” Mr Moro said.
“It is a real-world demon-stration of the risks horticultural industries have been warning about.”
