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CITRUS TREATMENT

CITRUS TREATMENT

Ruth Palomero 21188 24 September 2019

The use and abuse of chemical substances in agriculture and the subsequent processing of fruits and vegetables, along with a greater awareness of the risks that these processes pose to both people's health and the environment, make us, as consumers, increasingly demanding and inclined to prefer products with fewer or more natural treatments.

In this regard, from the perspective of our company, we often find that consumers, and even farmers, lack knowledge about the treatments applied to citrus fruits. We will try to explain it below, in simple language, focusing on aspects that we believe may be of interest to consumers.

Conventional Citrus

We refer to citrus fruits that have been subjected to conventional treatments (i.e., non-organic) in the orchard, including pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers. After harvesting (which often occurs before - or even long before - ripening), the fruits may undergo de-greening treatments, preservation with fungicides, waxes, etc. Some are stored in refrigerated chambers for several months after harvest. These are the majority of what we find in supermarkets today.

Among the citrus fruits marketed in Europe, we can differentiate between two groups: those produced within the EU, mainly in Spain, Italy, Portugal, or Greece, and those produced outside the EU, coming from countries such as South Africa, Egypt, or South America. In the latter group, it is very common for fruits to be treated with substances prohibited in the EU, creating an absurd situation that is very detrimental to European farmers and consumers. Substances are prohibited for our farmers (in theory, due to their potential harm to health), while the commercialization of citrus fruits from these other countries, where they may have been treated with prohibited substances, is accepted within Europe.

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Conventional Citrus Without Post-Harvest Treatments

We have called those citrus fruits that have received conventional treatments during their production but are only cleaned with a cloth before being marketed, meaning no waxes, fungicides, or other preservatives are added, and they are not stored in refrigerated chambers. They must be dispatched promptly so that they can be used in good condition.

These are the citrus fruits that we have been selling for these years at Naranjas de Cullera. In our case, these are citrus fruits harvested in the municipality of Cullera (València) or adjacent areas, produced by ourselves, family members, friends, or acquaintances, or small local farmers. As you well know, our oranges are shipped on the same day they are harvested, resulting in super fresh citrus fruits, which translates into unparalleled organoleptic qualities.

In the treatments applied by our farmers, only products authorized by the EU are used. Furthermore, we require our farmers to submit their field notebooks, which record the treatments applied during the season. For the past two seasons, we have maintained strict traceability of our oranges, from the orchard they come from to the consumer they are sent to. However, a significant portion of the oranges we serve come from orchards that have not received any pesticide treatments (farmers choose to save costs when they do not observe pests). However, this does not make them organic, as the use of chemical fertilizers or herbicides applied to the soil is common.

Organic Citrus

These are citrus fruits harvested in orchards where the cultivation system is organic agriculture. Organic agriculture can be defined as an agricultural cultivation system that allows for the production of food free of chemical residues, while respecting the environment and conserving or improving soil fertility through the optimal use of natural resources, without the use of synthetic chemical products. This does not mean that treatments cannot be applied if necessary, but always with natural substances accepted by the organic farming committee.

You can trust that a farmer or a company that sells oranges tells you that they have not received conventional treatments. However, the only guarantee is the organic certificate (or Demeter, which is slightly more demanding than organic). There are different regional control bodies in Europe that ensure that consumers receive genuinely organic products. In our area, it is issued by the public body: CAECV.

There are farmers who do not take care of the orchard and claim that their production is organic. It is not true. They may be oranges without residues, and they are probably delicious, but for an orange to be considered organic, the orchard it comes from must be organic, and furthermore, to publicly display this, the orchard must have the corresponding official certificate, be registered in a registry of organic producers, pass the required inspections, and account for the kilograms produced.

Citrus "In Conversion to Organic"

Within the process of obtaining the organic certificate, there are different phases. From the moment the farmer applies for the organic certificate for their plots until they obtain it, 3 years will pass. In the first year, the harvest can be sold on the market as "conventional." During the second and third years, the CEACV issues an intermediate certificate called "in conversion to organic" (or simply "in conversion"). This means that these are oranges cultivated following organic guidelines, and the orchards must wait to complete 3 years of continuous organic cultivation to receive the definitive organic certificate.


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It is worth noting that organic production is somewhat more expensive because the processes are often more costly, and the products used are more expensive. However, we believe that it is the production of the future, and that organic foods will become cheaper and reach more people. This is why we have been encouraging our farmers to convert to organic farming, and we hope to be able to offer these new fruits from now on and in the coming years.