Italy, Cyprus, Greece and Malta ban curry leaves from Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan Consulate in Catania, Sicily in Italy had informed Sri Lankan passengers not to bring curry leaves from Sri Lanka to Italy, Cyprus, Greece and Malta because the EU had prohibited curry leaves under the EUROPHYT notification.

Issuing a notice on December 24, the Consulate office said the European Union (EU) had banned curry leaves from Sri Lanka to the EU countries on the grounds of harmful organism content.

“During November, the EU and the Italian Customs had on many occasions detected that curry leaves had been brought in the baggage of Sri Lankans who arrived at Italian airports, mainly the Catania Airport. Due to the increasing number of detections of curry leaves from passenger baggage the non-compliance of this rule would result in a negative impact on Sri Lanka’s import of food items to Italy and other EU countries,” it said,

The Consulate office has instructed the Sri Lankans living in Italy, Cyprus, Greece and Malta to avoid bringing down the curry leaves from Sri Lanka in their baggage.

“The Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) will also screen personnel baggage for this purpose and if you do not adhere to this requirement, you will not have a smooth departure at the Customs clearance at this end,” the notice said.

(Source: Daily Mirror – By Chaturanga Samarawickrama)