Zespri kiwifruit tests positive for Covid-19

Zespri has launched ‘‘ emergency management plans’’ after kiwifruit shipped from Tauranga tested positive for Covid-19 in China.

Samples from a batch of New Zealand kiwifruit being sold in a supermarket in the Jiangsu province of China had tested positive for the virus, according to a report published in the Global Times, a nationalist tabloid with strong ties to China’s Communist Party, yesterday.

Zespri chief executive Dan Mathieson, in an email to the kiwifruit industry, confirmed it was Zespri fruit exported last month which tested positive, and all subsequent tests had come back negative.

‘‘We are taking this matter extremely seriously and immediately launched our emergency management plans and actively cooperated with the relevant government agencies to trace the product shipment,’’ Mathieson said in the email.

Mathieson said the fruit had been exported from Tauranga, where there is no community transmission of Covid-19, on August 16.

It had tested negative for Covid-19 in Shanghai, and was ‘‘disinfected as per standard China customs protocols before being cleared and distributed’’. The positive test came from fruit held by a second-tier distributor in Hefei province, neighbouring Jiangsu province.

‘‘While all subsequent investigative tests of the remaining fruit from the batch in stock have come back negative, local authorities in areas where the fruit was distributed have taken steps ranging from temporarily removing fruit from shelves through to testing customers who purchased fruit from the retail outlets where the affected batch was sold,’’ the email read.

Zespri has been contacted for comment.

The Global Times reported the fruit had tested positive on Wednesday and the local health authority had immediately worked to identify ‘‘close contacts and subcontacts’’.