Scientific Opinion on a composting method proposed by Portugal as a heat treatment to eliminate pine wood nematode from the bark of pine trees. Scientific Opinion.

Following a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Plant Health was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the appropriateness of a composting method proposed by Portugal as a heat treatment to eliminate pine wood nematode (PWN), Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner and Buhrer) Nickle from bark of pine trees. The Panel evaluated the dossier entitled “Technical requirements for heat treatment of isolated bark of conifers” submitted by the Portuguese Authorities and concluded that a) the process is not adequately described and information on a number of key aspects is not provided, b) the heat treatment protocol does not allow for a full characterisation of the temperature profile within each treated lot, c) the treatment process described does not provide evidence that all the bark particles within the lot achieve a continuous core temperature of 56 °C for 30 minutes and d) insufficient evidence on the sampling methodology is provided to determine the reliability of the testing method provided by the Portuguese document to determine freedom from PWN. Although there is potential for development of a composting method as a heat treatment to eliminate PWN from bark of pine trees, the technical requirements presented in the Portuguese dossier do not adequately demonstrate the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed composting method as a treatment to ensure freedom of treated pine bark from live PWN.