[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 201 (Thursday, October 17, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55544-55546]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-22648]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. APHIS-2018-0073]
Decision To Authorize the Importation of Fresh Guava From Taiwan
Into the Continental United States
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: We are advising the public of our decision to authorize the
importation of fresh guava fruit from Taiwan into the continental
United States. Based on the findings of the pest risk analysis, which
we made available to the public to review and comment through a
previous notice, we have concluded that the application of one or more
designated phytosanitary measures will be sufficient to mitigate the
risks of introducing or disseminating plant pests or noxious weeds via
the importation of fresh guava fruit from Taiwan.
DATES: The articles covered by this notification may be authorized for
importation after October 17, 2019.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Tony Rom[aacute]n, Senior
Regulatory Policy Specialist, Regulatory Coordination and Compliance,
PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 133, Riverdale, MD 20737-1231; (301)
851-2242.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the regulations in ``Subpart L--
Fruits and Vegetables'' (7 CFR 319.56-1 through 319.56-12, referred to
below as the regulations), the Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service (APHIS) prohibits or restricts the importation of fruits and
vegetables into the United States from certain parts of the world to
prevent plant pests from being introduced into and spread within the
United States.
Section 319.56-4 of the regulations contains a notice-based process
based on established performance standards for authorizing the
importation of fruits and vegetables. The performance standards, known
as designated phytosanitary measures, are listed in paragraph (b) of
that section. Under the process, APHIS proposes to authorize the
importation of a fruit or vegetable into the United States if, based on
the findings of a pest risk analysis, we determine that the measures
can mitigate the plant pest risk associated with the importation of
that fruit or vegetable. APHIS then publishes a notice in the Federal
Register announcing the availability of the pest risk analysis that
evaluates the risks associated with the importation of that fruit or
vegetable.
In accordance with that process, we published a notice \1\ in the
Federal Register on December 14, 2018 (83 FR 64314-64315, Docket No.
APHIS-2018-0073), in which we announced the availability, for review
and comment, of a pest risk assessment (PRA) that evaluated the risks
associated with the importation into the continental United States of
fresh guava fruit from Taiwan and a risk management document (RMD)
prepared to identify phytosanitary measures that could be applied to
the commodity to mitigate the pest risk.
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\1\ To view the notice, PRA, RMD, supporting documents, and the
comments that we received, go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2018-0073.
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We solicited comments on the PRA and RMD for 60 days ending on
February 12, 2019. We received five comments by that date. They were
from private citizens, the California Department of Food and
Agriculture (CDFA), and the Florida Department of Agriculture and
Consumer Services (FDACS).
One of the commenters expressed general support for the importation
of guava from Taiwan into the United States, while another expressed
general opposition to the importation of fruits and vegetables into the
United States. The other three commenters provided comments regarding
the notice and its supporting documentation. Below, we discuss these
comments, by topic.
Comments on the Pest Risk Assessment
The PRA contained a pest list of pests associated with guava and
known to occur in Taiwan. The PRA identified 23 \2\ pests as being of
quarantine significance and likely to follow the pathway on guava from
Taiwan, and therefore possible candidates for risk mitigation.
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\2\ Due to a typographical error, the PRA erroneously stated
that 24 pests had been identified, although only 23 were listed; the
RMD correctly stated that only 23 had been identified. This notice
will use the latter number.
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CDFA stated that, in addition to the 23 pests identified as being
of quarantine significance, there were another 12 pests listed on the
pest list that were rated as either an ``A'' pest or ``B'' pest
according to CDFA's pest rating system: Aleurodicus dispersus,
Ceroplastes floridensis, Coccus viridis, Ferrisia virgata, Kilifia
acuminata, Milviscutulus mangiferae, Paracoccus marginatus, Planococcus
minor, Pseudococcus jackbeardsleyi, Pulvinaria psidii, Rusellapsis
pustulanus, and Selenothrips rubrocinctus. Under CDFA's rating system,
a pest given an ``A'' rating is a plant pest of known economic
importance subject to a State of California-enforced action that
involves eradication, quarantine regulation, containment, rejection, or
other holding action. A pest given a ``B'' rating is a pest of known
economic importance subject to eradication, containment, control, or
other holding action at the discretion of the individual county
agricultural commissioner within the State of California.\3\ The
commenter stated that mitigations should be developed for these pests
as well.
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\3\ For further information, see https://ucanr.edu/sites/plantpest/Regualtory_Information/Pest_Ratings/.
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In Sec. 319.56-4 of the regulations, paragraph (c) provides that
if a fruit or vegetable is not authorized importation into the United
States, APHIS will not authorize its importation until we examine the
pest risk associated with its importation and determine that the risk
posed by each quarantine pest associated with the importation of the
commodity can reasonably be mitigated by the application of one or more
mitigation measures. Additionally, consistent with international
standards to which the United States is a signatory,\4\ the regulations
define a quarantine pest as: ``A pest of potential
[[Page 55545]]
economic importance to the area endangered thereby and not yet present
there, or present but not widely distributed there and being officially
controlled.'' For purposes of an APHIS risk assessment, the
``endangered area'' is the geographical area of the United States into
which a foreign country has requested that APHIS authorize importation
of the commodity; in the case of the guava from Taiwan, this is the
continental United States.
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\4\ See https://www.ippc.int/largefiles/adopted_ISPMs_previousversions/en/ISPM_05_2007_En_2007-07-26.pdf.
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With regard to 11 of the 12 pests cited by CDFA (Aleurodicus
dispersus, Ceroplastes floridensis, Coccus viridis, Ferrisia virgata,
Kilifia acuminata, Milviscutulus mangiferae, Planococcus minor,
Pseudococcus jackbeardsleyi, Pulvinaria psidii, Rusellapsis pustulanus,
and Selenothrips rubrocinctus), while these pests were listed in the
pest list of our PRA, they are all present in the United States and not
under Federal official control, and therefore do not meet our
definition of a quarantine pest. Therefore, we do not consider it
necessary to develop mitigations for these pests, irrespective of their
rating within CDFA's system.
However, APHIS has developed a program, the Federally Recognized
State Managed Phytosanitary Program (FRSMP), to afford protections to
States when commodities are determined at a port of entry to harbor a
plant pest that is not a quarantine pest but is of concern to a
particular State. Information regarding the petition process for FRSMP
is found here: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/frsmp/downloads/petition_guidelines.pdf.
With regard to the twelfth pest mentioned by CDFA (Paracoccus
marginatus), this pest was, in fact, not included in the pest list in
our PRA. We agree that P. marginatus is associated with guava and known
to occur on fruit, but could find no evidence suggesting it is present
in Taiwan; this is why it was not included in the pest list. CDFA did
not provide a reference regarding the pest's presence in Taiwan;
therefore, we cannot evaluate their assertion. We also note that P.
marginatus is present in the United States and not under official
control, and thus not a quarantine pest.
Finally, CDFA stated that Phyllostica psidiicola, a fungal
pathogen, is present in Taiwan, not present in the continental United
States, and known to cause severe black rot in guavas. CDFA requested
that it be included in the PRA.
We agree that Phyllostica psidiicola is present in Taiwan and not
present in the continental United States, and have determined that it
is a quarantine pest and could follow the pathway on importation of
guavas from Taiwan into the continental United States. Therefore, we
have prepared an addendum to the PRA that evaluates P. psidiicola,
assigns it a Medium risk rating, and determines that it is a possible
candidate for risk mitigation. We also have revised our RMD to include
P. psidiicola as a quarantine pest that could follow the pathway on the
importation of guavas from Taiwan into the United States. The addendum
to the PRA and the revised RMD are available on Regulations.gov, or by
contacting the individual listed in this notice under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
The inclusion of P. psidiicola in the RMD does not alter the
mitigations of the RMD from those we initially proposed. P. psidiicola
causes corky lesions on the surface on infected fruit that are easily
detected during visual inspections, and we proposed both pre-export
inspection by the national plant protection organization of Taiwan and
port-of-entry inspections as components of our systems approach for the
importation of guava from Taiwan.
That being said, the revised RMD does include one additional
mitigation measure not included in the initial RMD. We discuss this
mitigation measure and the basis for its inclusion later in this
document.
Comments on the Risk Management Document
We proposed that a portion of a biometric sample of all
consignments of guavas from Taiwan intended for export to the United
States would have to be cut open by the NPPO of Taiwan and inspected
for internally feeding quarantine pests.
FDACS questioned whether the fruit cutting would be effective. They
requested data from the NPPO regarding the efficacy of fruit cutting to
detect quarantine pests that feed internally.
The efficacy of fruit cutting as a means of detecting quarantine
pests is long established,\5\ and the inspectors who will conduct the
cutting in Taiwan have been trained by the NPPO in proper fruit cutting
to sample for pests. While we acknowledge FDACS' legitimate interest in
ensuring that infested guava are not imported from Taiwan into the
State of Florida, we would only request fruit-cutting data from an NPPO
and consider sharing it with external parties when there is reason to
believe that the NPPO is not conducting fruit cutting or is doing so in
an ineffective manner. This is not the case with Taiwan.
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\5\ For example, see: Cavey, J.F. 2003. Mitigating introduction
of invasive plant pests in the United States. Pages 350--361(Chapter
13). In Invasive Species: Vectors and Management Strategies, G.M.
Ruiz and J.T. Carlton, editors. Island Press, Washington DC. See
also: Gould, W.P. 1995. Probability of Detecting Caribbean Fruit Fly
(Diptera: Tephritidae) Infestations by Fruit Dissection. Florida
Entomologist 78(3): 502-507.
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We also note that all guava imported into the United States will be
subject to additional cutting by Customs and Border Protection in
accordance with 7 CFR part 305 at ports of entry into the United
States.
We proposed that the guava would have to be treated with cold
treatment for Bactrocera spp. fruit flies, or alternatively,
irradiated.
FDACS expressed concern that the cold treatment would not be
effectively applied. They stated that misapplication of cold treatment
is a recurring issue, and cited two examples that they considered
evidence of failure of in-transit cold treatment and indicative of the
liabilities of cold treatment as a mitigation measure: The discovery of
live fruit flies on cold-treated clementines from Spain, later,
clementines from Morocco. Because of the possibility of cold treatment
failure and the high likelihood that fruit flies may become established
in Florida, if introduced, FDACS requested that we prohibit the
importation of guava from Taiwan into the State of Florida.
The detection of fruit flies on clementines from Spain occurred in
2001 and was determined to be the result of an inadequate cold
treatment schedule, rather than misapplication of an effective
treatment schedule.\6\ It resulted in a holistic review and revision of
the manner in which APHIS evaluates and approves phytosanitary
treatments, and should not be considered indicative of current
practices.
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\6\ These findings are discussed at length in a 2002 interim
rule (67 FR 63529-63539, Docket No. 02-071-1) that revised our
phytosanitary treatment regulations based on the detection.
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Based on a site visit that APHIS conducted, the detection of fruit
flies on clementines from Morocco was determined to be the result of
failure to pre-cool the fruit adequately prior to applying cold
treatment. We also determined that this pre-cooling failure was, in
turn, due to uniquely inhospitable climatic conditions in the area of
Morocco surrounding the pre-cooling facility, a desert where daytime
temperatures during the summer months routinely exceed 90 [deg]F. We
addressed this failure by revising the operational workplan that
Morocco had entered into with APHIS to specify additional pre-cooling
and temperature
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reading procedures at pre-cooling facilities.\7\
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\7\ See https://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/plants/plant_imports/federal_order/downloads/2018/DA-2018-01.pdf.
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Given Taiwan's more temperate climate, we do not consider a similar
pre-cooling failure likely to occur in Taiwan.
Additionally, we note that cold treatment is not the only
mitigation measure that we proposed in order to address Bactrocera spp.
fruit flies. We proposed that places of production would have to have a
fruit fly trapping system in place, as certified by the NPPO of Taiwan;
that fallen fruit would have to be removed from places of production to
eliminate possible fruit fly host material; that packinghouses where
the guava was processed for consignment to the United States would have
to be registered with the NPPO of Taiwan and determined to be pest
exclusionary; and that a portion of a biometric sample of each
consignment of guava intended for export to the United States would
have to cut open by the NPPO of Taiwan and inspected for fruit fly
larvae and other quarantine pests.
For the above reasons, we do not consider it necessary to prohibit
the importation of guava from Taiwan into the State of Florida.
A commenter suggested that the guava could be irradiated as a
treatment for fruit flies.
We agree, and included this treatment option in the RMD.
Finally, following the close of the comment period, the NPPO of
Taiwan informed us that, as a standard industry practice, all guava
intended for export from Taiwan for commercial sale are bagged.
Accordingly, the NPPO indicated that they would be amenable to
including bagging as an additional, voluntarily imposed mitigation
measure to address the pest risk associated with the importation of
guava into the continental United States, with the specific logistics
of this bagging included in the operational workplan that they will
enter into with APHIS. This additional bagging requirement is included
in the revised RMD.
Therefore, in accordance with Sec. 319.56-4(c)(3)(iii), we are
announcing our decision to authorize the importation of fresh guava
fruit from Taiwan into the continental United States subject to the
following phytosanitary measures:
Importation in commercial consignments only;
Development of an operational workplan that the NPPO of
Taiwan must enter into with APHIS;
Registration of places of production and packinghouses
with the NPPO of Taiwan;
Regular inspections of places of production by the NPPO;
Grove sanitation and trapping for fruit flies in places of
production;
Safeguarding and identification of the lot throughout the
growing, packing and export process;
Bagging of fruit intended for export;
Phytosanitary treatment (cold treatment or irradiation);
Pre-export inspection by the NPPO, including fruit cutting
of a portion of a biometric sample, and issuance of a phytosanitary
certificate with an additional declaration that states that the fruit
have been produced in accordance with the requirements of the systems
approach, inspected, and found free of P. psidii and P. psidiicola; and
Port of entry inspections.
These conditions will be listed in the Fruits and Vegetables Import
Requirements database (available at https://epermits.aphis.usda.gov/manual). In addition to these specific measures, fresh guava fruit from
Taiwan will be subject to the general requirements listed in Sec.
319.56-3 that are applicable to the importation of all fruits and
vegetables.
Paperwork Reduction Act
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
3501 et seq.), the reporting and recordkeeping requirements included in
this notice are covered under the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
control number 0579-0049. The estimated annual burden on respondents is
1,632 hours, which will be added to 0579-0049 in the next quarterly
update.
E-Government Act Compliance
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is committed to
compliance with the EGovernment Act to promote the use of the internet
and other information technologies, to provide increased opportunities
for citizen access to Government information and services, and for
other purposes. For information pertinent to E-Government Act
compliance related to this notice, please contact Mr. Joseph Moxey,
APHIS' Information Collection Coordinator, at (301) 851-2483.
Congressional Review Act
Pursuant to the Congressional Review Act (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.),
the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs designated this action
as not a major rule, as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1633, 7701-7772, and 7781-7786; 21 U.S.C.
136 and 136a; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.3.
Done in Washington, DC, this 10th day of October 2019.
Kevin Shea,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2019-22648 Filed 10-16-19; 8:45 am]
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