ITCT information for Exporters

Industry is reminded of their responsibilities to ensure ITCT is set-up properly, as per the relevant protocols and work plans, because failure to do so will cause the consignment to be rejected by the trading partner.

• Probe placement positions vary between countries and Authorised Officers must ensure they meet all in-transit cold treatment (ITCT) requirements as per the relevant protocol and workplan documents.
• Taiwan has unique probe position requirements and deviation from this requirement is not permitted by Taiwan.
• Product sensors must be inserted into the fruit so as much of the sensor as possible is covered, making sure that the tip does not extend beyond the product. Note: Taiwan and Thailand are particularly stringent about this requirement and will fail consignments where a probe has become dislodged or where the fruit doesn’t cover the entirety of the probe (even when the treatment data indicates compliance with the cold treatment temperatures).
• A coil of slack cable must be spooled either inside the carton or taped to the outside of the carton to mitigate against sensor dislodgement during treatment. The cable must also be secured to the carton to prevent the sensor being pulled out of the product.
• Where an ITCT consignment has failed due to probe issues, the container will be re-exported by the importing country.
• The department will not be able to intervene with trading partners on rejected consignments where fruit hasn’t been probed properly to meet relevant protocol requirements.

The examples in the pictures below are some methods we are aware of that have been utilised by industry to provide additional confidence against fruit dislodgment. The program cannot advise or recommend such measures, as these have not been specified by importing countries. However, we have no issue with facilities applying such measures to secure the fruit and advise that importing countries have not taken issue with fruit being secured using such methods.