SUBJECT: U.S. Customs and Border Protection to Enforce APHIS Restrictions on Mediterranean Fruit Fly (Ceratitis capitata) Host Material from Dominican Republic
U.S. Customs and Border Protection will enforce a federal quarantine order issued by the United
States Department ofAgriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on
March 18, 2015. This Federal Order (FO-2015-14) immediately suspends imports of Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly) fruit and vegetable hosts from the Dominican Republic.
The purpose of the Federal Order is to prevent the entry or introduction of Medfly, a harmful plant pest, from the Dominican Republic into the United States. The APHIS Administrator has determined that the introduction and establishment of Medfly poses a serious threat to United States agriculture, including certain fruits or vegetables grown in the United States, and that this serious plant pest threat must be immediately addressed. Medfly is not known to occur in the United States except in Hawaii. It is estimated that the species would be able to establish populations in southern regions of the United States (Plant Hardiness Zones 9-11).
Effective immediately, APHIS is suspending all importations of fruit and vegetable commodities known to be Medfly hosts from the Dominican Republic. APHIS is also prohibiting overland in-bond transit movements of such materials south of 39° latitude in the United States. These prohibitions apply to all importation and movement including commercial and non-commercial cargo, passenger baggage, international mail, and express courier shipments.
The following commodities from the Dominican Republic are prohibited:
- avocado
- Clementine
- grape grapefruit
- lemon
- litchi
- longan mamey (sapote)
- mandarin mango*
- orange
- papaya
- pepper
- pummelo
- tangelo
- tangerine
- tomato
- tuna (cactus fruit)
*Commercial shipments of mangoes from the Dominican Republic will continue to be enterable under the conditions of the APHIS hot water treatment preclearance program.
Complete details on APHIS Federal Order 2015-14 are available via the APHIS Stakeholder Registry and http://www.aphis.usda.gov. Please also refer to the APHIS Fruits and Vegetables Import Requirement (FAVIR) Online Database for information.
Contact our local agriculture specialists at 504-623-6600 for CBP-related issues. For import permits issues and quarantine order questions, contact APHIS at 301-851-2312.
