Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities have banned the import of two tonnes of mandarins from Croatia because border checks of fruit samples showed the presence of a pesticide banned in the EU since spring 2020.

The Sanitary Inspectorate of the Federation entity said on Wednesday it took samples from a shipment of mandarins at the Bijaca border crossing and that lab analysis showed an excessive quantity of the pesticide chlorpyrifos.

The Sanitary Inspectorate ordered that the shipment be destroyed. Its employees were instructed at the beginning of this month to step up the control of citrus imports at the recommendation of the BiH Food Safety Agency.

The same pesticide was discovered in another fruit shipment from Croatia earlier this month.