French food safety agency warns on tomato virus

The French food safety agency (Anses) on Tuesday issued a warning on the spread of a bug attacking tomatoes, chilis and peppers. The tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) emerged nearly six years ago in greenhouses in Israel and Jordan.

Endangered species: tomatoes and peppers are at risk from the virus. Daldorph

The virus can be transmitted via infected seeds, plants and fruits as well as by simple contact, and can survive for a long time without losing its power of infection, Anses said.

The virus has appeared in the United States, Mexico, Italy and Spain.

"The thing that makes it dangerous is that there's no effective treatment to combat it nor are there varieties which are resistant to it," according to Philippe Reignault, head of the vegetable health monitoring unit at Anses.

ToBRFV is harmless to humans but it can destroy whole areas of production. Infected plants can be identified by patchy colouring, deformed leaves and mis-shapen fruits.

Tomatoes, chilis and peppers also become pitted and so are impossible to sell.

Anses said gardeners or farmers finding contaminated plants should inform regional departments of the agriculture ministry.