Fresh pitaya fruit (Hylocereus spp.) may be imported into the United States from Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama in accordance with the conditions described in this section. These conditions are designed to prevent the introduction of the following quarantine pests: Anastrepha ludens, Ceratitis capitata, Dysmicoccus neobrevipes, and Planococcus minor.
(a) Monitoring and oversight. (1) The national plant protection organization (NPPO) of the exporting country must provide a workplan to APHIS that details the activities that the NPPO will, subject to APHIS approval, carry out to meet the requirements of this section. APHIS will be directly involved with the NPPO in the monitoring and auditing implementation of the systems approach.
(1) The national plant protection organization (NPPO) of the exporting country must provide a workplan to APHIS that details the activities that the NPPO will, subject to APHIS approval, carry out to meet the requirements of this section. APHIS will be directly involved with the NPPO in the monitoring and auditing implementation of the systems approach.
(2) The NPPO of the exporting country must conduct inspections at the packinghouses and monitor packinghouse operations. Starting 2 months before harvest and continuing until the end of the shipping season, the NPPO of the exporting country must visit and inspect the places of production monthly to verify compliance with the requirements of this section. If the NPPO finds that a packinghouse or place of production 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 have conducted an investigation and appropriate remedial actions have been implemented.
(3) The NPPO must review and maintain 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.
(b) Place of production requirements. (1) The personnel conducting the trapping required in paragraph (c) of this section must be hired, trained, and supervised by the NPPO of the exporting country. The exporting country's NPPO must certify that each place of production has effective fruit fly trapping programs, and follows control guidelines, when necessary, to reduce quarantine pest populations. APHIS may monitor the places of production.
(1) The personnel conducting the trapping required in paragraph (c) of this section must be hired, trained, and supervised by the NPPO of the exporting country. The exporting country's NPPO must certify that each place of production has effective fruit fly trapping programs, and follows control guidelines, when necessary, to reduce quarantine pest populations. APHIS may monitor the places of production.
(2) The places of production producing pitaya for export to the United States must be registered with the NPPO of the exporting country.
(3) Trees and other structures, other than the crop itself, must not shade the crop during the day. No C. capitata or A. ludens host plants may be grown within 100 meters of the edge of the production site.
(4) Pitaya fruit that has fallen on the ground must be removed from the place of production at least once every 7 days and may not be included in field containers of fruit to be packed for export.
(5) Harvested pitaya fruit must be placed in field cartons or containers that are marked to show the place of production.
(c) Mitigation measures for C. capitata and A. ludens--(1) Pest-free places of production. (i) Beginning at least 1 year before harvest begins and continuing through the end of the shipping season, trapping for A. ludens and C. capitata must be conducted in the places of pitaya fruit production with at least 1 trap per hectare of APHIS-approved traps, serviced every 7 days.
(1) Pest-free places of production. (i) Beginning at least 1 year before harvest begins and continuing through the end of the shipping season, trapping for A. ludens and C. capitata must be conducted in the places of pitaya fruit production with at least 1 trap per hectare of APHIS-approved traps, serviced every 7 days.
(i) Beginning at least 1 year before harvest begins and continuing through the end of the shipping season, trapping for A. ludens and C. capitata must be conducted in the places of pitaya fruit production with at least 1 trap per hectare of APHIS-approved traps, serviced every 7 days.
(ii) From 2 months prior to harvest through the end of the shipping season, when traps are serviced, if either A. ludens or C. capitata are trapped at a particular place of production at cumulative levels above 0.07 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 pitaya fruit to the continental United States. If the average A. ludens or C. capitata catch is greater than 0.07 flies per trap per day for more than 2 consecutive weeks, the place of production is ineligible for export until the rate of capture drops to an average of less than 0.07 flies per trap per day.
(iii) The NPPO must maintain records of fruit fly detections for each trap, update the records each time the traps are checked, and make the records available to APHIS upon request. The records must be maintained for at least 1 year for APHIS review.
(2) Pest-free area for C. capitata. If the pitaya fruit are produced in a place of production located in an area that is designated as free of C. capitata in accordance with Sec. 319.56-5, the trapping in paragraph (c)(1) of this section is not required for C. capitata.
(d) Packinghouse requirements. (1) The packinghouses must be registered with the NPPO of the exporting country.
(1) The packinghouses must be registered with the NPPO of the exporting country.
(2) All openings to the outside 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 packinghouses.
(3) The packinghouses must have double doors at the entrance to the facilities and at the interior entrance to the area where the pitaya fruit are packed.
(4) While in use for packing pitaya fruit for export to the United States, the packinghouses may only accept pitaya fruit that are from registered places of production and that are produced in accordance with the requirements of this section.
(e) Post-harvest procedures. The pitaya fruit must be packed within 24 hours of harvest in a pest-exclusionary packinghouse. Pitaya fruit must be packed in insect-proof cartons or containers that can be sealed at the packinghouse, or covered with insect-proof mesh or a plastic tarpaulin for transport to the United States. These safeguards must be intact upon arrival in the United States.
(f) Phytosanitary inspection. (1) The NPPO of the exporting country must visually inspect a biometric sample of pitaya fruit, jointly approved by APHIS and the NPPO of the exporting country, for D. neobrevipes and P. minor, and cut open a portion of the fruit to detect A. ludens and C. capitata. If the fruit is from a pest-free area for C. capitata, then the fruit will only be inspected for A. ludens.
(1) The NPPO of the exporting country must visually inspect a biometric sample of pitaya fruit, jointly approved by APHIS and the NPPO of the exporting country, for D. neobrevipes and P. minor, and cut open a portion of the fruit to detect A. ludens and C. capitata. If the fruit is from a pest-free area for C. capitata, then the fruit will only be inspected for A. ludens.
(2) The fruit are subject to inspection at the port of entry for all quarantine pests of concern. Shipping documents identifying the place(s) of production in which the fruit was produced and the packing shed(s) in which the fruit was processed must accompany each lot of fruit presented for inspection at the port of entry to the United States. This identification must be maintained until the fruit is released for entry into the United States.
(3) If D. neobrevipes or P. minor is found, the entire consignment of fruit will be prohibited from import into the United States unless the shipment is treated with an approved treatment monitored by APHIS. If inspectors (either from the exporting country's NPPO or at the U.S. port of entry) find a single fruit fly larva in a shipment, they will reject the entire consignment for shipment to the United States, and the place of production for that shipment will be suspended from the export program until appropriate measures, agreed upon by the NPPO of the exporting country and APHIS, have been taken.
(g) Commercial consignments. The pitaya fruit may be imported in commercial consignments only.
(h) Phytosanitary certificate. Each consignment of pitaya fruit must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the NPPO of the exporting country, containing an additional declaration stating that the fruit in the consignment was produced in accordance with requirements in 7 CFR 319.56-55. (Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 0579-0378) [77 FR 22466, Apr. 16, 2012]