Post-Harvest Treatment of Agricultural Produce

Note Number: AG1222
Published: November 2007
Updated: April 2010

Introduction

Quite a few agricultural commodities are treated with agricultural chemicals after they are harvested. This practice is known as ‘post-harvest chemical use’.

The objective of post-harvest treatments is to address pest and/or disease problems that may arise during transport and storage, whether the storage is short or long term. Pest problems may include weevils and other insects infesting cereal grains during storage, fungal pathogens such as botrytis infecting table grapes, superficial scald infecting pome fruit, and more.

Agricultural produce destined for interstate transport may be treated with agricultural chemicals to meet quarantine requirements.

Tracing Chemical Use

Victoria has an excellent reputation for the production of “clean, green” agricultural produce. As part of the production system, DPI has developed a strategy of testing for chemical residues and tracing commodities detected with unacceptable residues back to the property of origin.

The aim of this traceback strategy is to determine how the unacceptable residue occurred on the property, identify whether any systemic issues relating to chemical use have led to the unacceptable residue, and to put processes in place to prevent a recurrence in the future.

There have been a number of instances where an unacceptable residue has been caused by a post-harvest chemical treatment being applied by a transport company or packer without the knowledge or permission of the agricultural produce owner.

The owner of the agricultural produce is responsible for ensuring that their produce meets food standards, and may be held accountable for any unacceptable chemical residues detected.

Permission to Treat Produce

Growers must be aware of the chain of custody through which their produce passes, and of any potential chemicals used by others in the chain.

For growers involved in Quality Assurance systems, the potential unauthorised treatment of their produce must be regarded as a significant Critical Control Point and processes must be put in place to negate this risk.

Since 2002, it has been a requirement of the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (Control of Use) Act 1992 (“the Act”) that people who wish to apply agricultural chemicals to agricultural produce they do not own obtain written permission of the owner of the produce before applying the chemical.

There is no special form required to obtain permission to treat agricultural produce. This is to provide flexibility to agricultural produce owners, packers and/or transporters who may wish to treat the produce.

The owner of agricultural produce may give permission for a single treatment with one chemical, or for a range of treatments over a longer period of time.

Below is one example of a form that may be used to record permission to treat agricultural produce with an agricultural chemical. This form may be photocopied and is available for download from the DPI Chemical Standards website.

The person undertaking the agricultural chemical treatment should retain the permission form as a reference and provide a copy to the produce owner upon request.

Fig 1. DPI permission to treat agricultural produce with agricultural chemicals form and image

Further Information

DPI Chemical Standards website - www.dpi.vic.gov.au/chemicalstandards

Contact/Services Available from DPI

Acknowledgements