As a large planting of pomegranates reaches maturation in Peru, U.S. consumers can expect to see more pomegranate aril imports from that country. But because of current regulations, whole pomegranates from Peru cannot currently be imported into the United States.“We're getting ready to harvest pomegranates in Peru,” said David Anthony of Ruby Fresh Pomegranates. “It's a little over 400 acres of plantings we've had there for three seasons now, and this will be our first significant harvest.” The bulk of the whole, fresh pomegranates harvested there will go to Europe, Canada, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Malaysia because, per APHIS regulations, only pomegranate arils can make their way into the United States from Peru. Anthony hopes that will change by 2016, and if it does, he sees a lot more Peruvian pomegranates reaching U.S. consumers.
“Peru will provide us with a tremendous amount of fruit, right now with arils, but whole fruit in the future,” said Anthony. “It's about 800 total containers of fruit we can get from there per season.”
For more information:
David Anthony
Ruby Fresh Pomegranates
+1 559 933 0340