Conditions for the movement of fresh citrus fruit from the Mexican fruit fly (Mexfly) quarantined areas in Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) were recently modified. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) took the action to make treatments more feasible or economically viable.
Growers who intend to move citrus from the core areas of the LRGV Mexfly quarantined areas can process the fruit for juice or complete one of four post-harvest treatments: chamber methyl bromide fumigation, high-temperature forced air, cold treatment or irradiation. See the domestic schedules of the APHIS Treatment Manual retained in the Agricultural Commodity Import Requirements database.
Growers located within a quarantined area but outside the infested core area may either apply malathion or spinosad bait spray as a pre-harvest treatment or complete one of the four aforementioned post-harvest treatments. However, some citrus producers in the LRGV Mexfly quarantined areas have indicated that the current post-harvest options are either not feasible or economically viable.
A recent federal order provides relief to them by providing an additional post-harvest treatment option. This option is a modified approach, which uses a tarpaulin (tarped container) methyl bromide treatment equivalent to the existing approved chamber methyl bromide fumigation option (T101-j-2-1).
This option applies only to fresh citrus fruit originating from quarantined areas and core areas of Mexfly quarantines in the LRGV, where the fruit is to undergo an APHIS-approved post-harvest treatment. Growers may not use this approach for the international export of fresh citrus fruit from these areas unless the citrus meets existing export certification requirements for regulated articles from fruit fly-quarantined areas.
The new treatment option will be added to the domestic schedules of the APHIS Treatment Manual. APHIS will then publish a notice in the Federal Register.
Source: APHIS
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