As part of its usual tasks of verifying products of plant origin imported during 2022, the National Agricultural Food Health and Quality Service (Senasa) continues with the phytosanitary and documentary control of bananas from Ecuador that enter via Chile through the Uspallata Border Post, in the province of Mendoza.
Banana import certifications are a regular and fundamental task for the agents of the Cuyo del Senasa Regional Center, who attend the loading facilities and inspect the products to prevent quarantine pests from entering Argentina, as they may affect the country's phytosanitary status.
"Once we verify that the imports comply with all documents, Senasa carries out a random sample control. We remove a number of boxes of bananas from the trucks, which depends on the size of the shipment, and we inspect them visually," stated Carla Bressia, a Plant Protection agent at Senasa's local office in Rivadavia.
If the agents find or suspect the cargo carries any of the seven quarantine pests regulated by the country, they send the samples to the laboratory to identify what pests it had.
"The truck is quarantined until we get the lab results. If the lab results show there was no quarantine pest, we release the truck," said Bressia.
Otherwise, the authorities carry out the required quarantine treatment or destroy the product, depending on the particular circumstances.
The phytosanitary control actions carried out by Senasa in Rivadavia and Mendoza are essential to avoid the dispersion of pests and to take care of public health, as these loads from Ecuador are subsequently distributed throughout the country.
Source: argentina.gob.ar