305.5—Chemical treatment requirements.
(a) Certified facility.
The fumigation treatment facility must be certified by APHIS. Facilities are required to be inspected and recertified annually, or as often as APHIS directs, depending upon treatments performed, commodities handled, and operations conducted at the facility. In order to be certified, a fumigation facility must:
(1)
Be capable of administering the required dosage range for the required duration and at the appropriate temperature, as specified in the treatment schedules in the PPQ Treatment Manual.
(2)
Be adequate to contain the fumigant and be constructed from material that is not reactive to the fumigant.
(b) Monitoring.
Treatment must be monitored by an official authorized by APHIS to ensure proper administration of the treatment, including that the correct amount of gas reaches the target organism and that an adequate number and placement of blowers, fans, sampling tubes, or monitoring lines are used in the treatment enclosure. An official authorized by APHIS approves, adjusts, or rejects the treatment.
(c) Treatment procedures.
(1)
To kill the pest, all chemical applications must be administered in accordance with an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved pesticide label and the APHIS-approved treatment schedule prescribed in the PPQ Treatment Manual. If EPA cancels approval for the use of a pesticide on a commodity, then the treatment schedule prescribed in the PPQ Treatment Manual is no longer authorized for that commodity. If the commodity is not listed on the pesticide label and/or included in a Federal quarantine or crisis exemption in accordance with FIFRA section 18, then no chemical treatment is available.
(2)
Temperature/concentration readings must be taken for items known to be sorptive or whose sorptive properties are unknown when treatment is administered in chambers at normal atmospheric pressure.
(3)
Unless otherwise specified in the PPQ Treatment Manual, the volume of the commodity stacked inside the treatment enclosure must not exceed 2/3 of the volume of the enclosure. Stacking must be approved by an official authorized by APHIS before treatment begins. All commodities undergoing treatment must be listed on the label or authorized under Section 18 of FIFRA.
(4)
Recording and measuring equipment must be adequate to accurately monitor the gas concentration, to ensure the correct amount of gas reaches the pests, and to detect any leaks in the enclosure. At least three sampling tubes or monitoring lines must be used in the treatment enclosure.
(5)
An adequate number of blowers or fans must be used inside of the treatment enclosure to uniformly distribute gas throughout the enclosure. The circulation system must be able to recirculate the entire volume of gas in the enclosure in 3 minutes or less.
(7)
For vacuum fumigation: The vacuum pump must be able to reduce pressure in the treatment enclosure to 1-2 inches of mercury in 15 minutes or less.