THE Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine (CAIQ), a Chinese national public institute established to research and develop science and technology for inspection and quarantine, has recently launched the Malaysian Durian Certification Implementation Rules which is the Malaysian durian standard certification.
The standard aims to protect the interests of durian farmers, operators, and consumers while creating a fair and trustworthy consumption environment.
This is in compliance with the “Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Certification and Accreditation” which is in accordance with the “World Traceable High-quality Agricultural Product: Malaysia Durian” group standard.
“With the growth of domestic durian demand and the improvement of living standards, the quality of Malaysian durians has been recognised by the public. Malaysian durian has great advantages in comparison to other variants in terms of colour, meat quality and taste,” commented CAIQTEST Malaysia Sdn Bhd’s CEO Dr Ch’ng Soo Ee.
“However, the price of Malaysian durian is also significantly higher than other durian varieties due to the higher transportation costs. Given the strong demand for Malaysian durian and its higher pricing, this has led some unscrupulous importers purportedly confusing the durian origin and variety in order to obtain high profits.”
According to the Dr Ch’ng, the implemented standard will help in the fight against such unscrupulous practices as traders would be required to obtain the Malaysian Durian Certification to authenticate its origin.
The Malaysian Durian Certification Implementation Rules formulated by CAIQ has completed its filing with the National Certification and Accreditation Administration (CNCA) and will accept applications for certification from Chinese importers of Malaysian durians and Malaysian exporters from now on.
The demand for Malaysian durian dubbed the “King of Fruits” has been gaining traction in China over the last few years, mainly for its authentic, strong smell, delicious pulp and rich nutrition. This has made having an effective certification process even more important.
This has paved way to China and Malaysia jointly formulating the original domestic standard known as “World Traceable High-Quality Agricultural Product Malaysia Durian”.
The review is conducted by experts from different institutes, including the China Academy of Science Institute of Agricultural Quality Standards and Testing Technology, the Development Research Centre of the State Administration for Market Regulation, and China Customs Science and Technology Research Centre alongside other institutions.
The standard will help to encourage the Malaysian fruit farmers to increase their investment, improve and develop new durian varieties and improve the quality of durians targeted for export to China.
“This is a game-changer as this is among the first standard implemented in line with the ‘National Standardisation Development Outline’ to actively promote the docking and cooperation in the field of standards with countries partaking the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI),” added Dr Ch’ng. – April 13, 2022
