COMMITTEE FOR TRADE, INDUSTRY AND ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT

1. COPA-COGECA VIEWS ON UNECE STANDARD AND RECOMMENDATION FOR APPLES Presented to COMMITTEE FOR TRADE, INDUSTRY AND ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT Working Party on Agricultural Quality Standards Specialized Section on Standardization of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Fifty-First session, 8-11 March 2005, Geneva ITEM 4a of the provisional Agenda

2. SUMMARY • RESULTS OF COPA/COGECA RESEARCH • METHODOLOGY • HIGH INTER- AND INTRA-REGIONAL VARIABILITY • CORRELATION SIZE / SUGAR CONTENT • NEED TO CONSIDER ALL VARIABLES • IMPORTANCE OF GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES • APPLE CONSUMPTION - European Case Study • CONCLUSIONS

3. COPA/COGECA RESEARCH

4. COPA/COGECA RESEARCH METHODOLOGY • CULTIVARS: • ITALY: Golden Delicious, Red Delicious (Red Chief clone), Gala - 200 apples for each cultivar both in mountain areas (600-700m) and valley (200-250m) picked on the same day (apart for Gala) • BELGIUM: Elstar, Jonagold, Braeburn - 16 batches of 100 apples each, picked on the same day • PARAMETERS MEASURED: • Content of soluble solids (refractometric method) • Firmness • Starch conversion (BE only) • Streif Index • Background color • Parameters variability with Low and High crop load (IT only)

5. COPA/COGECA RESEARCH HIGH INTER- AND INTRA-REGIONAL VARIABILITY • High degree of INTER-REGIONAL VARIABILITY • Set of relevant INTRA-REGIONAL DIFFERENCES • ENVIRONMENT is a BASIC FACTOR able to DETERMINE • QUALITY “individual countries/regions need to establish their own maturity standards, since it would be unreasonable to expect that standards can be simply transferred between countries or between cultivars” Ref: TRADE/WP.7/GE.1/2004/9, Page 6, Appendix One, Transmitted by New Zealand (Specialized Section on Standardization of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables, Fiftieth Session, Geneva, May 2004)

6. COPA/COGECA RESEARCH CORRELATION SIZE/SUGAR CONTENT ITALY, Golden Delicious BELGIUM, Elstar EXISTENCE of a SIGNIFICANT CORRELATION between SIZE and SUGAR CONTENT Therefore the CURRENT QUALITY SYSTEM based on FRUIT SIZE PREVENTS the MARKETING of POOR QUALITY APPLES

7. COPA/COGECA RESEARCH NEED TO CONSIDER ALL VARIABLES NEED TO AVOID ANY OVERSIMPLIFIED APPROACH CLONES MAJOR DISCREPANCIES in SUGAR CONTENT  PRODUCTION COULD BE CUT OFF (-90%) NEED TO INVESTIGATE MOST KNOWN VARIETIES BUT ALSO THEIR CLONES, IN DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS AND MULTIPLE SEASONS Red Delicious, RED CHIEF CLONE

8. COPA/COGECA RESEARCH IMPORTANCE OF GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES (GAP) GAP REDUCE THE NEED FOR QUALITY PARAMETERS EASIEST AND SAFEST WAY TO REACH A QUALITY LEVEL ACCEPTABLE IN A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE FOR CONSUMERS, TRADERS AND PRODUCERS GALA, ALTO ADIGE - SOUTH TYROL Green dots: production from thinned trees Red Dots: production from un-thinned trees Blue horizontal line: 9 °brix level (EC Services proposal for “Gala” – see INF.10) Black vertical line (80 grams, actual minimum weight for Class I) GAP to OBTAIN APPLES OF THE BEST QUALITY

9. COPA/COGECA RESEARCH IMPORTANCE OF GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES (GAP) FINAL OBJECTIVE NEED FOR GLOBAL IMPLEMENTATION OF GAP TO PREVENT PRODUCTION OF LOW QUALITY FRUITS IN THIS WAY THE “QUALITY PROBLEM” WOULD BE ELIMINATED AND NEW INSTRUMENTS AND CONTROL METHODS WOULD NOT BE NEEDED

10. APPLE CONSUMPTION European Case Study

11. EUROPEAN APPLE MARKET PRODUCTION INCREASING – CONSUMPTION DROPPING UE-25 10.402.000 Tons UE-15 7.058.000 Tons NM-10 3.344.000 Tons Trend % Source: EC, Apples and Pears Working Group, Freshfel Consumption Monitor 2004

12. CONCLUSIONS

13. CONCLUSIONS INTRODUCTION OF NEW QUALITY PARAMETERS • THE SECTOR IS NOT READY TO ADOPT QUALITY PARAMETERS CONTINUOUS MEASUREMENT • SAMPLING MEASUREMENT IS DESTRUCTIVE AND PRESENT MANY ASPECTS NOT CONVINCING PRODUCERS: • SMALL AND SCARCELY REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLES • UNCERTAINTY OF CONTROL PROCEDURES • UNCERTAIN POINT OF CONTROL

14. CONCLUSIONS CULTIVARS AND NEW QUALITY PARAMETERS • DIFFICULT TO DEFINE QUALITY WITH A SINGLE PARAMETER • BEST PARAMETER FOR MATURITY IS STARCH CONVERSION TEST • MINIMUM °BRIX LEVEL SHOULD TAKE INTO ACCOUNT: • ENVIRONMENT EFFECT • SEASON EFFECT • VARIETIES • CLONES • CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR NEED FOR GLOBAL HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE !

15. CONCLUSIONS °BRIX AND DIAMETER / WEIGHT GOOD CORRELATION BETWEEN °BRIX AND SIZE BASED ON EXISTING KNOWLEDGE ACTUAL DIAMETER / WEIGHT PROVISIONS ARE SIMPLEST AND MOST ACCURATE QUALITY PARAMETERS

16. CONCLUSIONS COPA/COGECA invites UNECE delegates to fully evaluate – in light of technological constraints – the consequences of introducing quality parameters based on insufficient knowledge and specifically requests a 3 YEAR ADJOURNMENT in revising the standard, and a similar approach to concurrent discussions at Codex and EU level

17. FRESHFEL POSITION • Freshfel welcomed the introduction of a weight-based sizing, as it reflects current industry practices • Sizing by diameter should be repealed as soon as possible to prevent confusion • Organoleptic criteria are commercial specifications –implement them into compulsory legislation would generate difficulties due to climatic factors, regional variation, inter-varieties differences, different consumer expectations,… Freshfel supports COPA’s request for a 3 year adjournment to the introduction of maturity criteria

18. WAPA POSITION • WAPA (World Apple and Pear Association) represents main producing countries in the World: Northern and Southern Hemispheres • WAPA meeting in Berlin (February 2005) adopted a consensual approach to discussions on international and EU apples standards: • EU marketing standards in force for 30 years did not create any difficulties to apples producers and traders; • Research conducted in South Africa, New Zealand , Belgium and Italy shows the complexity of elaborating maturity criteria. WAPA also initiated work in this field with Hortresearch New Zealand further highlighting inherent problems; and • It is internationally recognized by global experts that fixing criteria is complex and that variation in fruit maturity occurs between regions, varieties and seasons. WAPA supports COPA’s request for a 3 year adjournment to the introduction of maturity criteria