On Tuesday morning, the SAG / USDA-APHIS / ASOEX Inspection Site in Cabrero started the second season of fresh fruit inspection for exports to the United States. This site verifies that the national fruit and vegetable products comply with the phytosanitary regulations agreed with the United States for the entry of Chilean fruits.
"Our country has had the SAG / USDA-APHIS / ASOEX Pre-Shipment Program, a tripartite agreement between the SAG, USDA-APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture) and the Association of Exporters of Chile (ASOEX) for more than 35 years. This program allows us to carry out the inspection of fresh fruit in our country, thus facilitating its entry into the United States market, "said Jaime Peña Cabezon, the Regional Director of the SAG of the Bio Bio region.
2,677,054 boxes of fresh fruit were inspected on this site during the 2017-2018 season. The main species controlled in the site are blueberries (1,280,420 boxes), apples (1,224,893 boxes), Asian pears (133,320 boxes), onions (13,860 boxes), tulip bulbs (8,407 boxes), cherries ( 8,167 boxes) and persimmons (7,987), which come from 25 exporting plants in the Maule, Bio Bio, La Araucanía, Los Ríos, Los Lagos, and Aysen regions.
Speaking about the 2017-2018 season, Fernando Pacha Lopez, the general manager of ASOEX's Inspection Sites, said: "This season we decided to open the inspection of this Site beforehand so as to satisfy the demand for services from the exporting plants of the southern area of the Maule region and the southern macro zone of our country, hoping to surpass the volume inspected in the previous season and to consolidate the operation of the Site in the Bio Bio region."
Source: SimFRUIT with information from SAG