APHIS Seeks Comment on Proposed Rule to Allow Fresh Apple and Pear Fruit to be Imported into the Continental U.S. from Eight EU Member Countries

APHIS Seeks Comment on Proposed Rule to Allow Fresh Apple and Pear Fruit to be Imported into the Continental U.S. from Eight EU Member Countries

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today announces that we will be publishing in the Federal Register a proposed rule that would allow the importation of fresh apple (Malus domestica) (Pyrus communis) and pear fruit from eight European Union member countries—Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Poland Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands. The new import requirements would replace the existing preclearance program with a systems approach that includes appropriate pest risk mitigations.

The U.S. would only accept commercial shipments of fresh apple and pear fruit from these countries if the shipments are accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate, with additional declaration followed by port of entry inspection. The proposed risk mitigation measures for fresh apple and pear fruit consist of orchard and packing house certification, inspection of registered orchards twice a season, orchard pest control and sanitation, post-harvest safeguards, fruit culling, traceback, sampling, and cold treatment against Medfly in countries where the pest is known to occur.

The proposed rule is scheduled to publish in the Federal Register and be available for public comment on Wednesday, January 20. In the interim, you can read the proposal on the APHIS Web site at: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/federal_register/eu_apples_pears.pdf