Indonesian Vegetables Pre‑Shipment Inspection 2025 Guide

A practical, field-tested blueprint to clear Indonesia’s phytosanitary pre-shipment inspection for fresh vegetables in 48 hours. Step-by-step IQFAST booking, exact documents, on-site prep, sampling expectations, and the traps that cause delays.

If you’ve ever had a truck waiting, pallets sweating, and your IQFAST slot slipping away, you know Indonesia’s vegetable phytosanitary inspection isn’t about paperwork alone. It’s choreography. After hundreds of runs across Jakarta, Surabaya, and Soekarno-Hatta cargo, we’ve boiled it down to a tight 48-hour pass blueprint that works for leafy greens, chilies, long beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, and similar fresh vegetables.

Here’s the system we use for our own exports and advise partners to follow in 2025.

The 3 pillars of a 48-hour pass

Booking discipline in IQFAST. The queue is real. The earlier you lock a slot, the more control you have over loading and airline/vessel cut-offs.
Lot integrity and traceability. Clear lots per commodity and farm, consistent carton labels, and documented cold-chain. Inspectors from Badan Karantina Indonesia move faster when data is neat.
Clean, dry, pest-free product. Sounds obvious, but 3 out of 5 delays we see come from condensation, soil, or avoidable pests. Quality prep beats debate at the inspection table.

Practical takeaway: Don’t try to fix problems during inspection. Build your pass into how you group lots, prep cartons, and stage the inspection area.

Step-by-step: your 48-hour blueprint

Day 0 (morning)

Finalize lots. Split by commodity, cultivar, farm, and harvest date. Example: separate baby romaine from red leaf. Don’t mix Baby Romaine (Baby Romaine Lettuce) with Loloroso (Red Lettuce) in one lot.
Confirm destination requirements. Some markets ask for additional declarations or pest freedom statements on the certificate. If your buyer needs an MRL certificate, start the lab process now.

Day 0 (afternoon)

Book in IQFAST. Choose the export service for Plant Quarantine, attach draft invoice and packing list, and input botanical names. Book at least 24 hours before you want the inspector on site. In our experience, popular windows at Priok and Perak lock 18–24 hours ahead.
Pre-cool and stage. Keep leafy greens at 0–4°C. Keep tomatoes and cucumbers above chilling thresholds. For Japanese Cucumber (Kyuri) aim for 8–10°C. For tomatoes, 10–12°C. Chilies are fine at 7–10°C. Document temperatures every 2–4 hours.

Day 1 (morning)

Print the inspection pack. IQFAST booking receipt, draft phyto application, farm list, lot summary, carton label sample, sanitation log, and cold-chain logs. If required by buyer or destination, include your latest MRL test certificate.
Set up inspection zone. Dry floor, good lighting, trash bags, knife, scale, PPE, and separate tables per lot. Put sample cartons on top rows, aisle-facing.

Day 1 (inspection window)

Be present. Have someone who knows the lots, farms, and cartons. Inspectors will ask practical questions. Clear answers shorten the process.
Open cartons as guided. Expect 2–3% sampling by carton count per lot, with a minimum of 5 and typically capped near 30 per lot in most offices. We’ve seen 20–25 cartons opened for a 1,000-carton lot. Local officers can adjust based on risk.
Pass or corrective action. If clean, documents are validated and the certificate is queued. If issues arise, fix fast. Replace affected cartons immediately from reserve stock if available.

Day 1 (late afternoon) to Day 2

Certificate issuance. If no lab tests are triggered, ePhyto with QR code or a printed certificate is usually issued within 6–24 hours. Testing for suspected pests or soil can add 1–2 working days.
Load and seal. Keep cold-chain intact to loading. Photograph seals and note numbers on the invoice and packing list.

Practical takeaway: A neat inspection table, top-row sampling cartons, and a confident lot keeper shave 30–60 minutes off. It matters when you have multiple lots in one booking.

How to book phytosanitary inspection in IQFAST without drama

Prepare your company profile. IQFAST uses your NIB and NPWP data, so make sure your exporter profile and addresses are updated.
Choose the correct service. Export inspection for plant products. Pick your office location that matches where goods will be presented.
Fill commodity details carefully. Use common and botanical names. Example: Chili pepper. Capsicum annuum. Tomato. Solanum lycopersicum.
Upload documents. Draft invoice and packing list are fine at booking stage. Attach farm list and lot summary if requested by your local office.
Time slot strategy. Book for late morning. It gives you time to fix early issues and still make afternoon cut-offs. For airlines, morning inspection before noon is safer.

Need help with a tricky routing or multiple lots in one booking? You can Contact us on whatsapp. We can sanity-check your IQFAST inputs and lot plan.

What documents do you need in 2025?

For fresh vegetables, we consistently present:

Invoice and packing list. Final or draft at inspection, final before certificate printing.
Lot summary and farm list. Farm codes, harvest dates, quantities per lot.
Carton label sample. Shows product, variety, country of origin, net weight, lot code, pack date, and grower code.
Packing house sanitation records. Cleaning log, pest control log.
Cold-chain temperature logs. From pre-cool to staging to loading. Leafy greens 0–4°C is standard; cucumbers and tomatoes higher to avoid chilling.
MRL test certificate. Not mandatory for the Indonesian phyto certificate in most cases, but buyers for EU and some premium markets expect it. Use ISO 17025 labs with multi-residue screening.
Wood packaging compliance. ISPM 15 for any wooden pallets or crates.

Recent change we’ve seen: more ports issued ePhyto with QR verification in late 2024, reducing counter time. Still, bring a printout if your consignee prefers a hard copy in the file.

Do you need pesticide residue tests to pass PSI in Indonesia?

Short answer. Usually no. Badan Karantina Indonesia focuses on quarantine pests, soil, and plant health. But if your destination requires pre-export MRL evidence or your buyer insists, have it ready. For EU-bound runs, accredited private labs commonly used by our clients include Sucofindo, SGS, Intertek, Mutu Agung Lestari, and Saraswanti. Confirm the method scope and LOQs match your buyer’s spec.

Practical takeaway: If you ship leafy greens weekly to Europe, run a rolling MRL program. One composite test per lot type per week beats last-minute panic.

How many cartons will quarantine open?

In our experience across Tanjung Priok, Tanjung Perak, and air cargo terminals, officers open about 2–3% of cartons per lot, with a minimum of 5 and often capped at around 30. They cut deeper when lots are mixed, labels are unclear, or they spot risks. Keep your lots clean and labels consistent to stay on the lower end.

How long does inspection take and when will the certificate be issued?

On-site inspection. 30–90 minutes per lot, depending on size and cleanliness.
Certificate issuance. Same day to 24 hours if no lab test is needed. Add 1–2 working days if the inspector sends samples to the lab.

We plan trucking and airline cut-offs assuming 24 hours to certificate, even if it often comes faster.

Can you request weekend or after-hours inspections?

Yes, but it’s by office policy and availability. Most offices can arrange Saturday or after-hours slots if you request in IQFAST and justify urgency. Expect overtime fees and supervisor approval. Book at least 24–48 hours in advance.

The most common reasons vegetable shipments fail PSI

Live pests. Thrips, whiteflies, mites. Keep sticky traps active and do a final visual check. Replace suspicious cartons.
Soil or plant debris. Roots with soil, mud on cartons, field trash. Wash, trim, and dry. Soil is a quick fail.
Condensation and wet crates. Drips raise risk and invite scrutiny. Pre-cool correctly and avoid moving cold cartons into humid warm rooms.
Mixed or unclear lots. Two farms in one lot, inconsistent labeling, missing lot codes. Make it easy for the officer to trace.
Non-compliant wood packaging. Pallets not ISPM 15 marked.
Declared vs. observed mismatch. Quantity, variety, or size range differs from documents.

Fix tactic we use. Keep 3–5% reserve cartons per lot outside the inspection zone. Swap immediately if defects are found.

Sampling, hygiene, and labeling expectations that move the needle

Sampling readiness. Stage sample cartons at the top layer of pallets and ensure easy access. Provide a clean knife and table to avoid product contamination.
Packing house hygiene. A simple checklist goes a long way. Floors swept and dry. Hand-washing station stocked. Pest control log available. Waste bins lined and closed.
Labeling and traceability. Use a consistent lot code. Example: FARM01-20250110-A-1 for Farm code, date, block, shift. Include product name, variety, country of origin, net weight, pack date, and lot code on each carton.
Commodity-specific notes. For Tomatoes, ship at mature green to breaker stages for life. For Red Cayenne Pepper (Fresh Red Cayenne Chili), look for thrips scarring and remove damaged fruit. For Japanese Cucumber (Kyuri), avoid chilling below 7°C to prevent pitting.

Do you need fumigation for fresh vegetables to the Middle East?

Not typically. Fresh vegetables rarely undergo fumigation because it damages quality. What you do need is ISPM 15 compliance for any wood packaging. Always check your buyer’s country-specific NPPO rules in advance, but in our runs to GCC markets, the phyto plus ISPM 15 pallets have been sufficient.

What if you fail? How to reschedule IQFAST after a failed result

Correct the cause. Replace cartons, re-trim, re-wash, or re-pack as required. Document the corrective action with photos.
Request re-inspection in IQFAST. Reference the previous booking and attach your corrective action notes.
Expect a new slot. It can be same day if the queue is light, but plan for 12–24 hours.

A candid note. Officers appreciate fast, documented fixes. It often means lighter re-sampling.

Quick resources and next steps

Product consistency helps pass rates. See our export specs for View our products. If you need a benchmark, compare your crates to our Baby Romaine (Baby Romaine Lettuce) and Tomatoes listings for grading and handling cues.
Tricky EU program or a first-time Middle East lane? Call us if you want a pre-inspection checklist tailored to your commodity and port.

Final thought. The inspection isn’t the hurdle. It’s the audit of your process. Book early, keep lots clean and traceable, and stage like a pro. Do that and 48 hours is not only doable. It’s repeatable.