The Netherlands now officially has 36 companies infected with Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus (ToBRFV). A total of 10 new companies have been infected. Three additional companies have successfully eliminated the virus, while the virus has returned to one grower. This is evident from a new update from the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA).
It is remarkable that the list of municipalities with an infection has become much longer. Compared to September, when there were 29 infected cultivators, the municipalities Lansingerland (1 infection), Westvoorne (2), Midden-Delfland (3) and Pijnacker-Nootdorp (1) are new.
The number of infections in Westland has decreased by 1. Westvoorne had disappeared from the list with 1 infection in the last update, but now returns in the list with 2 infections.
In the previous update of the NVWA, there were still 29 infected farms. At that time, 5 new infeections had been added since June.
36 locations under surveillance
As of 25 November 2021, the official state of affairs (in brackets the change from the September 2021 list) is:
11 Westland (-1)
5 Hollands Kroon
1 Lansingerland (+1)
2 Reimerswaal
1 Haarlemmermeer
2 Horst aan de Maas (+1)
1 Goeree-Overflakkee
3 Brielle
2 Steenbergen
1 Zuidplas
1 Noordoostpolder
2 Westvoorne (+2)
3 Midden-Delfland (+3)
1 Pijnacker-Nootdorp (+1)
Growers report crop losses of 5-30% in case of infestation. In some cases growers report less than 5%. The NVWA estimates that the removal and disposal of the crop will cost a grower between 5 and 10 thousand euros per hectare.
12 successful eliminations ToBRFV
Since mid-2019, the virus has been identified at a total of 50 cultivation locations. 12 locations successfully eliminated the virus and at 2 locations there has been a new introduction. 4 companies switched to other cultivation. At this moment 36 companies are under the supervision of the NVWA.
At the end of June, there were still 32 locations. At that time, there were 476.6 hectares. The NVWA did not share in this update how many hectares are involved now.
Worldwide
ToBRFV is also still spreading worldwide. Recently, a new number of infections in Belgium (12) became known and the first findings were reported from Iran, Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia.
For ToBRFV, a quarantine status and reporting obligation apply in a European context.