Australian biosecurity authorities are investigating claims that imported raw peanuts are bypassing strict quarantine rules and being sold illegally, directly to consumers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The allegations have sparked fears that exotic plant diseases could take hold in the country’s peanut-growing regions.<\/p>\n
Under Australian law, imported raw peanuts must arrive with a phytosanitary certificate \u2014 an official document certifying the produce meets Australia’s plant health requirements \u2014 or be processed at an approved facility before sale.<\/p>\n
Bypassing those requirements is illegal and industry figures say it risks introducing plant diseases not currently present in Australia.<\/p>\n
The alarm was raised by Sonie Crumpton, general manager of Crumpton Interstate, Australia’s largest peanut processor and a major domestic grower based in Kingaroy.<\/p>\n
Mr Crumpton said customers in Sydney and Melbourne first alerted his staff in April to suspect peanut packets appearing in stores.<\/p>\n
Sonie Crumpton says he has raised the issue with his local MPs. (Supplied: Syngenta)<\/p>\n
He said testing was subsequently conducted on the products, with results indicating the peanuts were capable of germinating \u2014 suggesting they had not been processed.<\/p>\n
“We’ve been in it for four and five generations now and \u2026 I’ve never seen this before,” he said.<\/p>\n
“This is the worst breach I’ve ever seen.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) confirmed the matter was being assessed.<\/p>\n
Mr Crumpton said he believed the nuts were entering the country by the container load from China and Brazil, mainly through Melbourne, and being distributed nationally, including via online marketplaces.<\/p>\n
Kingaroy crop consultant and former peanut breeder Graeme Wright said the primary concern was the potential introduction of peanut smut disease.<\/p>\n
“If we ever got that disease here, it would be the end of the industry,” Mr Wright said.<\/p>\n
![\"Graeme,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/845476523cf89dae226ba5157021404a.jpeg\")
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Graeme Wright\u00a0says a bag of Chinese raw peanuts he bought from an Australian-based online seller looks suspect. (ABC Rural: Brandon Long)<\/p>\n
Peanut smut is a soil-borne disease in South America that has significantly impacted the commercial peanut industry there.<\/p>\n
Mr Wright, who has worked in the industry for decades, said a bag of Chinese raw peanuts he bought from an Australian-based online marketplace looked suspect.<\/p>\n
He noted that a home gardener planting imported raw peanuts could inadvertently introduce the disease into the environment.<\/p>\n
The federal member for Maranoa, David Littleproud, said he raised the matter with Agriculture Minister Julie Collins more than a month ago but had received little response.<\/p>\n
He is calling on the minister to quarantine suspected non-compliant stock and compel importers to recall affected products.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0e3c0a991cde84d4987abf2915b6a12a.jpeg\")
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Kingaroy is known as the peanut capital of Australia. (ABC Rural: Brandon Long)<\/p>\n
A DAFF spokesperson said it was reviewing the allegations.<\/p>\n
“We are taking this report seriously and will take strong enforcement action where non-compliance is identified,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Importing raw peanuts into Australia without a biosecurity permit carries penalties of up to $1.65 million and 10 years’ jail for individuals, or $8.25 million for businesses.<\/p>\n
Authorities can also pursue fines as a civil penalty without a criminal conviction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian biosecurity authorities are investigating claims that imported raw peanuts are bypassing strict quarantine rules and being sold…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":889028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[23],"tags":[360536,58619,97143,360532,746,360534,193116,360535,163912,11401,159,360533,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-889027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-agriculture-minister-julie-collins","tag-biosecurity","tag-david-littleproud","tag-department-of-agriculture-fisheries-and-forestry","tag-environment","tag-general-manager-of-crumpton-interstate","tag-imported","tag-kingaroy-crop-consultant-and-former-peanut-breeder-graeme-wright","tag-peanut","tag-raw","tag-science","tag-sonie-crumpton","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116804082042950744","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=889027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/889028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=889027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=889027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=889027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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