The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced its decisions to allow imports of figs and tejocote fruit from Mexico into the continental U.S., in two notices that take effect March 30 (here) and (here). Imported figs will have to undergo irradiation treatment in either the U.S. or Mexico and be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate, said APHIS. Imported tejocote will have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate that says it has been inspected and is free of pests.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes March 24 to Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
The U.S. and Canada are working on two new initiatives to streamline trade in plant products between the two countries, said the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in a stakeholder update sent on March 23 (here). One project aims to allow quarantine to take place in Canada for plant taxa that have post-entry quarantine conditions for importation into the United States. A second initiative would implement a mechanism to allow for the electronic exchange of phytosanitary certificates under the “e-Cert” data exchange program.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes March 20 to Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
CBP will enforce a federal quarantine order recently issued by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection service (see 1503180017) meant to stop imports containing the Mediterranean fruit fly from the Dominican Republic, said CBP (here). The APHIS Administrator has determined that the fly, known as a Medfly, poses a serious threat to U.S. agriculture and "that this serious plant pest threat must be immediately addressed." Medfly is not known to occur in the U.S. except in Hawaii, and it's estimated that the species would be able to establish populations in southern regions of the U.S., said CBP. "Effective immediately, APHIS is suspending all importations of fruit and vegetable commodities known to be Medfly hosts from the Dominican Republic," said CBP.
A proposed increase in the Agricultural Quarantine inspection fees would burden importers and transportation service providers and more analysis is needed, said Reps. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., and Mario Díaz-Balart, R-Fla. in a letter (here). The letter, dated March 23, calls on the House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee to withhold funding toward putting the fees in place.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes March 18 to Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
The North American Plant Protection Organization has selected Stephanie Bloem as its new executive director, said the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in a message to stakeholders emailed on March 18 (here). Bloem is currently a risk analyst in the APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine program.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued a federal order on March 18 (here) prohibiting imports of 18 fruits and vegetables from the Dominican Republic. Effective immediately, imports of avocado; clementine; grape; grapefruit; lemon; litchi; longan; mamey (sapote); mandarin; orange; papaya; pepper; pummelo; tangelo; tangerine; tomato; and tuna (cactus fruit) will not be allowed from the Caribbean country. Imports of mango will be restricted to commercial consignments that have gone through the APHIS hot water treatment preclearance program. APHIS is also prohibiting overland in-bond transit movements of these fruits and vegetables south of 39° latitude. The agency said the ban comes after multiple detections of Medfly in the Punta Cana region of the Dominican Republic.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes March 12 to Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.