US flexible on Chilean pomegranate

The US Federal Registry has published the final norm that changes regulations for the entrance of fresh Chilean pomegranate to the United States, under a "system approach".

According to the information published on the 27 of April, in the US Federal Registry, the change will allow fresh pomegranates from Chile to be exported from plantations in areas with a low incidence of Brevipalpus chilensis, Chilean false red mite. This shows some flexibility in comparison to the old norm that only allowed the income to the US of fresh pomegranates treated with bromomethane.

According to the new regulation, pomegranate must be under post-harvest inspection, meaning, 1 to 30 days before harvest samples must be recollected for infection detection tests.

During the post-harvest period the new regulation states that each container must have a tag to identify the production and packaging places.

The norm also states that each shipment must be accompanied by a sanitary certificate, including the following information: "The fruits have been found free of Brevipalpus chilensis based on field and packinghouse inspections."

The norm also states the registry processes and the plantation certification and the sampling process and analysis of the pomegranates to be exported to the United States.

In 2011, the United States positioned itself as the main destination market for fresh Chilena pomegranate, registering shipments of 2,159,743 kilos, representing 44% of the shipments. Other important markets were the Netherlands and Russia.

Source: SimFRUIT / ProChile

Publication date: 4/20/2012

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