Contamination confirmed. The Minister of Agriculture, Didier Guillaume, confirmed Monday evening that a Breton greenhouse tomato farm was indeed affected by the virus "tomato brown rugose fruit virus" (ToBRFV), whose distribution worries the sector. The Minister assured, however, that preventive measures had been taken. Benign for humans, the tomato virus nevertheless threatens the fruit, which it completely destroys before quickly spreading to other plants. When a fruit is contaminated with the virus, the entire ripening process is stopped. First step, small yellow and brown spots appear on the skin of the tomatoes, the flesh deteriorates, and the deformed fruit loses all its taste. So that it is then impossible to sell it.
Dutch seeds
Beyond its virulence towards fruits, the disease is extremely contagious. The virus can be transmitted through seeds, plants, but also infected fruits, and can survive in the air for a very long time. As soon as a production site is contaminated, all of the plants risk being quickly infected, explained the health security agency. A multiplied risk in the case of greenhouse production, the plants being very close to each other.
The ministry carried out inspections and samples from three other operations. Within the framework of a traceability investigation, one finds there the same plants as those incriminated in Finistère: plants coming from the United Kingdom, resulting from Dutch seeds. There is currently no cure for this virus. The only solution is therefore to destroy the affected crops. A radical action that frightens an entire industry of 1,500 producers.