USDA ALLOWS LONGAN FRUIT IMPORTS FROM TAIWAN
May 19, 2009
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is amending the regulations to allow the importation of commercial shipments of fresh longan with stems from Taiwan into the United States. As a condition of entry, the longan will be subject to cold treatment and special port-of-arrival inspection procedures for certain quarantine pests. In addition, the fruit will have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate stating that the fruit was inspected and found to be free of certain quarantine pests, and the individual cartons or boxes in which the longan are shipped will be stamped or printed with a statement prohibiting their importation into or distribution in the state of Florida. This action will allow for the importation of commercial shipments of fresh longan with stems from Taiwan into the United States while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests into the United States.
This final rule is scheduled for publication in the May 20 Federal Register and becomes effective June 19.
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Note to Reporters: Public notices and other APHIS information are available on the Internet. Go to the APHIS news release page at http://www.aphis.usd.gov and click on the “Newsroom” button. For addition information about this topic, contact Melissa O’Dell at (301) 734-5222 or by e-mail at melissa.l.o’dell@aphis.usda.gov.