319.56-50—Hass avocados from Peru.
Fresh Hass variety avocados (Persea americana P. Mill.) may be imported into the continental United States from Peru only under the conditions described in this section. These conditions are designed to prevent the introduction of the following quarantine pests: Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedemann), the South American fruit fly; Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), the Mediterranean fruit fly; Coccus viridis (Green), the green scale; Ferrisia malvastra (McDaniel), a mealybug; and Stenoma catenifer Walsingham, the avocado seed moth.
(a) General requirements.
(1)
The national plant protection organization (NPPO) of Peru must provide a workplan to APHIS that details the activities that the NPPO of Peru will, subject to APHIS' approval of the workplan, carry out to meet the requirements of this section. The NPPO of Peru must also establish a trust fund in accordance with § 319.56-6.
(2)
The avocados must be grown at places of production that are registered with the NPPO of Peru and that meet the requirements of this section.
(3)
The avocados must be packed for export to the United States in packinghouses that are registered with the NPPO of Peru and that meet the requirements of this section.
(b) Monitoring and oversight.
(1)
The NPPO of Peru must visit and inspect registered places of production monthly, starting at least 2 months before harvest and continuing until the end of the shipping season, to verify that the growers are complying with the requirements of paragraphs (c) and (g) of this section and follow pest control guidelines, when necessary, to reduce quarantine pest populations. If trapping is conducted under paragraph (d)(2) of this section, the NPPO of Peru must also verify that the growers are complying with the requirements in those paragraphs and must certify that each place of production has effective fruit fly trapping programs. Any personnel conducting trapping and pest surveys under paragraphs (d)(2) or (f) of this section must be trained and supervised by the NPPO of Peru. APHIS may monitor the places of production if necessary.
(2)
In addition to conducting fruit inspections at the packinghouses, the NPPO of Peru must monitor packinghouse operations to verify that the packinghouses are complying with the requirements of paragraph (h) of this section.
(3)
If the NPPO of Peru finds that a place of production or packinghouse is not complying with the requirements of this section, no fruit from the place of production or packinghouse will be eligible for export to the United States until APHIS and the NPPO of Peru conduct an investigation and appropriate remedial actions have been implemented.
(4)
The NPPO of Peru must retain all forms and documents related to export program activities in places of production and packinghouses for at least 1 year and, as requested, provide them to APHIS for review.
(c) Grove sanitation.
Avocado fruit that has fallen from the trees must be removed from each place of production at least once every 7 days, starting 2 months before harvest and continuing to the end of harvest. Fallen avocado fruit may not be included in field containers of fruit brought to the packinghouse to be packed for export.
(d) Mitigation measures for A. fraterculus.
Places of production must meet one of the following requirements for A. fraterculus:
(1) Pest-free area.
The avocados must be produced in a place of production located in an area that is designated as free of A. fraterculus in accordance with § 319.56-5.
(2) Place of production with low pest prevalence.
(i)
Beginning at least 1 year before harvest begins and continuing through the end of the harvest, trapping must be conducted in registered places of production with at least 1 trap per 0.2 square kilometers (km 2) to demonstrate that the places of production have a low prevalence of A. fraterculus. APHIS-approved traps baited with APHIS-approved plugs must be used and serviced at least once every 2 weeks.
(ii)
During the trapping, when traps are serviced, if A. fraterculus are trapped at a particular place of production at cumulative levels above 0.7 flies per trap per day, pesticide bait treatments must be applied in the affected place of production in order for the place of production to remain eligible to export avocados to the United States. The NPPO of Peru must keep records of fruit fly detections for each trap, update the records each time the traps are checked, and make the records available to APHIS inspectors upon request.
(e) Mitigation measures for C. capitata.
Places of production must meet one of the following requirements for C. capitata:
(1) Pest-free area.
The avocados must be produced in a place of production located in an area that is designated as free of C. capitata in accordance with § 319.56-5.
(2) Treatment.
Avocados from Peru must be treated for C. capitata in accordance with part 305 of this chapter.
(f) Surveys for S. catenifer.
(1)
Peruvian departamentos in which avocados are grown for export to the United States must be surveyed by the NPPO of Peru at least once annually, no more than 2 months before harvest begins, and found to be free from infestation by S. catenifer. APHIS must approve the survey protocol used to determine and maintain pest-free status and the actions to be performed if S. catenifer is detected. Surveys must include representative areas from all parts of each registered place of production in each departamento. The NPPO of Peru must cut and inspect a biometric sample of fruit at a rate determined by APHIS. Fruit sampled must be either from the upper half of the tree or from the ground. Sampled fruit must be cut and examined for the presence of eggs and larvae of S. catenifer in the pulp or seed and for the presence of eggs in the pedicel.
(2)
If one or more S. catenifer is detected in the annual survey, or during any other monitoring or inspection activity, the affected place of production will be immediately suspended from the export program until appropriate measures to reestablish pest freedom, agreed upon by the NPPO of Peru and APHIS, have been taken. The NPPO of Peru must keep records of S. catenifer detections for each orchard, update the records each time the orchards are surveyed, and make the records available to APHIS inspectors upon request. The records must be maintained for at least 1 year after the beginning of the harvest.
(g) Harvesting requirements.
Harvested avocados must be placed in field cartons or containers that are marked with the official registration number of the place of production. The place of production where the avocados were grown must remain identifiable when the fruit leaves the grove, at the packinghouse, and throughout the export process. The fruit must be moved to a registered packinghouse within 3 hours of harvest or must be protected from fruit fly infestation until moved. The fruit must be safeguarded by an insect-proof screen or plastic tarpaulin while in transit to the packinghouse and while awaiting packing.
(h) Packinghouse requirements.
(1)
During the time registered packinghouses are in use for packing avocados for export to the United States, the packinghouses may only accept avocados that are from registered places of production and that are produced in accordance with the requirements of this section.
(2)
Avocados must be packed within 24 hours of harvest in an insect-exclusionary packinghouse. All openings to the outside of the packinghouse must be covered by screening with openings of not more than 1.6 mm or by some other barrier that prevents pests from entering. The packinghouse must have double doors at the entrance to the facility and at the interior entrance to the area where the avocados are packed.
(4)
Fruit must be packed in insect-proof packaging, or covered with insect-proof mesh or a plastic tarpaulin, for transport to the United States. These safeguards must remain intact until arrival in the United States.
(5)
Shipping documents accompanying consignments of avocados from Peru that are exported to the United States must include the official registration number of the place of production at which the avocados were grown and must identify the packing shed or sheds in which the fruit was processed and packed. This identification must be maintained until the fruit is released for entry into the United States.
(i) NPPO of Peru inspection.
Following any post-harvest processing, inspectors from the NPPO of Peru must inspect a biometric sample of fruit from each place of production at a rate to be determined by APHIS. The inspectors must visually inspect for the quarantine pests listed in the introductory text of this section and must cut fruit to inspect for S. catenifer. Unless the avocados were produced in a pest-free area as described in paragraph (d)(1) of this section, the inspectors must cut fruit to inspect for A. fraterculus. Unless the avocados were produced in a pest-free area as described in paragraph (e)(1) of this section, the inspectors must cut fruit to inspect for C. capitata. If any quarantine pests are detected in this inspection, the place of production where the infested avocados were grown will immediately be suspended from the export program until an investigation has been conducted by APHIS and the NPPO of Peru and appropriate mitigations have been implemented. If C. capitata is detected, avocados from the place of production where the infested avocados were produced may be imported into the United States only if treated with an approved treatment for C. capitata in accordance with part 305 of this chapter.
(j) Phytosanitary certificate.
Each consignment of Hass avocados imported from Peru into the United States must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the NPPO of Peru with an additional declaration stating that the avocados in the consignment were grown, packed, and inspected and found to be free of pests in accordance with the requirements of 7 CFR 319.56-50. In addition:
(1)
If the avocados were produced in an area free of A. fraterculus, the phytosanitary certificate must state that the avocados in this consignment were produced in an area designated as free of A. fraterculus in accordance with 7 CFR 319.56-5.
(2)
If the avocados were produced in an area free of C. capitata, the phytosanitary certificate must state that the avocados in this consignment were produced in an area designated as free of C. capitata in accordance with 7 CFR 319.56-5.
(3)
If the avocados have been treated for C. capitata prior to export, the phytosanitary certificate must state that the avocados in the consignment have been treated for C. capitata in accordance with 7 CFR part 305.
(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 0579-0355)