APHIS Proposes to Allow Blueberry Imports from Morocco
The Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is proposing to amend the regulations to allow the import of fresh blueberry fruit from Morocco into the U.S. As a condition of entry, the blueberries would have to be produced under a systems approach employing a combination of mitigation measures for two quarantine pests, Ceratitis capitata and Monilinia fructigena, and would have to be inspected prior to export from Morocco and found free of the pests.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The blueberries would have to be imported in commercial consignments only and would have to be treated with one of two approved postharvest treatments to mitigate the risk of C. capitata. The blueberries would also have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration saying the conditions for import have been met.
Morocco expects to export 360,000 pounds of fresh blueberries to the U.S. annually, APHIS said.
Comments are due by Feb. 28 to http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=APHIS-2013-0016-0001, or by mail to Docket No. APHIS-2013-0016, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Further information: Dorothy Wayson, 301-851-2036.