Eurofins: Delayed Results
Zespri has provided NZKGI with the following information as of 20.03.2020
Performance issues continue with the Eurofins sampling programme. It is recognised that growers are incredibly frustrated, and, despite the resource being dedicated to fix the issues by Eurofins, Zespri, other industry providers and third-parties it is possible this situation will be ongoing across the season.
Zespri staff working with Eurofins reports there has been some progress. Sampling has settled down and is flowing reasonably well – this has been greatly assisted by the appointment of a manager that has had previous experience with this function. However, there do continue to be issues with delivery times and delays in finalising fruit processing to be able to calculate results. In terms of increasing capacity for sampling ahead of peak demand, Eurofins are now re-opening their Te Puke lab, have purchased more equipment for their Katikati lab and the VLS lab in Te Puke is also now processing more samples.
However, there remain issues with the reporting system which are causing significant delays to the final reports being made to growers by 6am each day. Zespri has a process to manually clear reports where possible to allow picking to get underway. It also has a group of senior technical staff, IS staff and other staff at the Katikati site working alongside Eurofins to ensure everything is being done to get the performance to the level it should be.
Given the above, the two-day turnaround for results will remain for the foreseeable future to allow the space for the sampling and lab process to work smoothly and to give extra time for those working on the systems issues the time to continue working on identifying the problem and fixing it.
As the industry is well aware we are still experiencing issues with the Eurofins clearance process. We have been working very hard on trying to find the solution but keep discovering new issues. We are seeing a large number of clearances being delayed in the Eurofins database and in order to keep the industry moving we want to release this fruit for harvest as soon as possible.
The following process details how to release fruit for harvest before the clearances are published out of the Eurofins system.
- If postharvest can see clearance data in the system that has all data complete and you can see that a clearance will be issued
- Send a list of KPIN/MAs through to Sue Groenewald sue.groenewald@zespri.com 027 493 1987
- Please submit these after 6:30 am
- Zespri will check the data and reply by email as soon as possible approving the KPIN/MAs that are OK to harvest
- Supplier need to wait for the formal clearance to be received prior to packing the fruit.
Any questions please contact Frank.bollen@zespri.com