The Association of the Highlands Production Community (ACPTA) denied the statements that the Dutch ambassador, Dirk Janssen, made regarding the quality of the onions imported from that country to Panama and refuted them by saying that they were old and had expired.

The producers referred to the statements given by the Dutch ambassador to the Star of Panama on Monday 27 August and that appeared in  a piece called The onion of contradictions.

In a letter, Lorenzo Jimenez, who represents the ACPTA, questioned Janssens statements regarding the import of a batch of onions in July 2018, which they claim had expired more than 20 days before.

He was referring to 1,280 fifty-pound onion packages, which were negotiated by the Slot Frans & Co, Panamá, SA  company and Ventas Agrícolas Peña, SA.

"You stated that the problem with the onion that Panama imports from the Netherlands for human consumption is due to an attempt to discredit the Dutch onion; as this product can only be exported after the strict control of the Dutch Plant Health Authority (NVWA); and that the Netherlands only exports high quality onions," said Jimenez, referring to the ambassadors statements.

Nothing could be farther from the truth, the producer said.

According to Jimenez, the onion that came from the Netherlands in July 2018 was "old, had expired, and had a plague of economic and quarantine importance. Panamanian producers base this statement on the onions harvest time, as according to them, its impossible to plant and grow the bulb in the Netherlands between October and March, because it coincides with the end of autumn and all of winter.

The Dutch ambassador replied that "the onion harvest season in the Netherlands normally started in June with the winter onions and lasted until the beginning of November. I hope the competent authorities will investigate this."

 Jimenez said that, this year, the Netherlands had started planting onions on April 27 and that the estimated harvest date should be between August and September 2018.

The national producer said that, if they discounted 120 calendar days to the onion that arrived to the Panamanian ports in July 21, 2018 from the Netherlands, then it must have been harvested by March 23, 2018.

In general, he said, the crop usually lasts about five months, although this depends on the environmental conditions and the genetic characteristics of the onion variety.

However, he said, there was no way that the onion that entered Panama in July from the Netherlands was fresh. Norm GNTI-COPANIT 52-2017 establishes that the onion to be marketed in Panama must have a maximum of 120 calendar days between its harvest and its commercialization.

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