OREANDA-NEWS The Rosselkhoznadzor banned the import of 128.7 tons of infected citrus fruits from Turkey, the service reports.

"During the monitoring on December 18, 2018, three batches of Nova mandarins in the amount of 61.5 tons were not allowed to be shipped to Russia and three batches of Washington orange varieties were brought in the amount of 67.2 tons, in connection with the identification of quarantine facilities for Russia in these batches," the report said.

Recently, the Rosselkhoznadzor has repeatedly banned the import of infected citrus fruits from Turkey. Earlier in December, the service held talks with representatives of Turkey on the supply of citrus crops infected with Mediterranean fruit fly from this country to Russia. The Turkish side recognized the real situation as negative and explained that in 2018 in Turkey there were particularly favorable weather conditions for the development of the Mediterranean fruit fly, and the measures taken by farmers to suppress the pest were ineffective.

Earlier, experts of Roskachestvo told what varieties of tangerines can be found on the Russian shelves and how to choose the most delicious of them.

"Outwardly, tangerines should be fresh, whole, clean and healthy. They are not allowed to damage agricultural pests, diseases, mechanical damage, bruises and large scarred surface cuts," — said in a statement. At the same time, external defects are still possible — according to experts, small abrasions, scratches, inclusions in the pores of the peel do not affect the taste and quality of tangerines.

Most importantly, these damage that is not passed into the mold, experts say. In addition, they advise not to pay attention to the air layer, the plumpness of tangerines is not a defect, but a varietal feature.

Experts will test several varieties from Peru, South Africa, Turkey, China and Russia, as well as Morocco on 250 indicators of quality and safety, and then make a detailed "tangerine" guide so that consumers can make a choice to their liking.