A word about residues

The New Zealand Kabocha Industry structure has been designed to ensure that New Zealand Kabocha is safe and within the client countries minimum residue levels.

In regard to pesticide residue, the New Zeland Kabocha Council provides the following assurances:

• An annual Export Spray Programme ensures growers, packers and exporters are informed of the chemicals approved for the export market concerned. The Export Spray Programme also specifies the withholding periods applicable for the approved chemicals.
• A Spray Diary Record Sheet records the pesticides applied to export crops. The Spray Diary Sheet is sent to growers at the beginning of each season. Only chemicals approved for use on Kabocha may be applied.
• All persons applying chemicals are Growsafe registered and this registration is checked at the time of registration with NZKC.
• The annual Export Spray Programme is made available to the processing factories, for entry into its food safety systems.
• The Spray Diary Record Sheet is audited during the season and is made available to the processing factories by the relevant packhouse at the time of raw material delivery.
• The packhouse is obliged to check the spray diary for compliance with the export spray programme and make it available for audit by the NZKC auditor AgriQuality.
• In the event of non-compliance with the processing factories food safety programme, the packhouse accepts that all raw material will be returned.
• In the event of pesticide applied outside of the Export Spray programme the packhouse accepts that samples will be taken for residue testing – to be paid for by the packhouse.
• The processing factory purchases raw material based on the NZKC soil testing programme, which stipulates every Kabocha field must be tested.

For more information please check out www.nzfsa.govt.nz/plant/subject/horticulture/residues