The day before, he expressed the “very strong suspicion” of the authorities. The Ministry of Agriculture confirmed Monday evening the contamination of tomatoes in the greenhouse by the ToBRFV virus, in a farm in Finistère, a virus harmless to humans but likely to have serious economic consequences for the sector.
"We received the results of the Health Security Agency on the samples taken [...] and the results are positive, so they are well contaminated with the virus," said the ministry.
The Directorate General of Food, which reports to the Ministry of Agriculture, finally received the results of analyzes on Monday, contrary to what had indicated in the day ANSES which had mentioned the date of February 24.
"Site disinfection" to come
"The operation concerned was confined pending the destruction of plants and disinfection of the site as soon as possible," said the ministry.
According to the Health Security Agency (ANSES), the tomato virus can infect up to 100% of plants on a production site, which makes it formidable for crops with high planting density such as greenhouse crops. However, it has no impact on humans.
In early February, ANSES warned against "the tomato brown rugose fruit virus" (ToBRFV), a new virus "particularly dangerous for plants which are sensitive to it". It can be transmitted through infected seeds, plants and fruit and survives in the open air for a long time.
"Major economic consequences"
This virus was first observed in Israel in 2014, then was found in 2018 on tomato crops in Mexico, the United States, Germany and Italy and finally in 2019 in the Netherlands, in the United Kingdom. Uni and Greece.
The spread of this virus on the national territory "would have major economic consequences for the sector but also the amateur gardeners", indicated Sunday the ministry, whereas the investigation was only at the stage of suspicion.
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The tomato is the first vegetable consumed by the French with just over 13.9 kg per household per year. The cultivation of tomatoes in France is the first vegetable crop with 712,000 tonnes produced in 2018, according to the same source.