SA Tomato owners Peter and Ariana Petsios consider legal action after tomato virus forces Adelaide business closure

The devastated owners of a 65-year-old tomato nursery north of Adelaide are planning legal action after closing their business in the wake of the tomato virus crisis.

A family-run tomato nursery in Adelaide’s northern suburbs has closed its doors after 65 years and its devastated owners have vowed to fight what they say is a “false positive” test amid a contagious virus crisis they say is plagued by bureaucratic dysfunction.

SA Tomato owners Peter and Oriana Petsios last week laid off their remaining 10 or so staff after being informed that a seedling returned a positive test for tomato brown rugose fruit virus in mid December.

The couple, whose business had employed up to 30 staff before the virus was first detected in August, fear they might lose their home. They have already lost about $3m.

“We’re all devastated – it’s a matter for the courts now,” Mr Petsios said. “It’s an unwinnable war. It’s very unfair. We’ve lost our reputation completely. They’ve destroyed a South Australian business.”

Peter and Ariana Petsios outside SA Tomato in Virginia. Picture: Matt Loxton

The positive test on December 13 was part of a sacrificial crop for an order sent to a Victorian customer as part of a nationally-approved deal aimed at providing SA Tomato with its first income since the virus was first detected at the Virginia business in August.

The Victorian glasshouse that received the batch has since returned a positive test and is now also in quarantine.

Mr Petsios said he was planning legal action over the saga.

He wants legislation changed so the virus, also known as ToBRFV, is removed from the National Priority Plant Pests list, as it was in Europe on January 1, and is fuming at inconsistencies in diagnostic protocols.

He says he has advice from biosecurity experts that the offending December 13 result was a “false positive” and points to more than 400 subsequent negative tests from the same batch of plants.

He said infected imported seeds, rather than cross-contamination, were to blame for his latest positive test, and he had followed quarantine protocols “to the letter”.

Only a small proportion of tomato seeds can be tested for ToBRFV when they enter Australia because they are destroyed in the testing process.

Mr Petsios said seed companies were hence unable to “100 per cent guarantee” their product was free from the virus.

“I’m one of the best propagators in Australia,” he said.

“If I’ve failed (to keep out the virus), imagine how many other people are failing out there.

They have raised the bar to a level that can’t be passed. It’s very unfair.”

He said he felt let down by Primary Industries Minister Clare Scriven and the State Government, that biosecurity measures were too harsh and an unfair restriction of trade, test results were consistently delayed and communication to growers was poor.

A state government spokeswoman said it would support SA Tomato in an effort to help it recommence trading “as a matter of priority” and would “continue to scrutinise” national ToBRFV eradication protocols and “advocate on behalf of impacted growers”.

A Primary Industries departmental spokeswoman said the December 13 positive test result indicated the disease remained on the SA Tomato premises and the business had dispatched plants to Victoria without authorisation.

Opposition spokeswoman Nicola Centofanti said the closure of SA Tomato was a devastating blow and meant the tomato industry was losing a high-quality nursery that could have helped it recover from the virus crisis.