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USDA AMENDS REGULATIONS TO ALLOW IMPORTATION OF TOMATOES FROM THE SOUSS-MASSA-DRAA PROVINCE OF MOROCCO
November 2, 2009
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is amending its regulations to allow the importation of commercial consignments of tomatoes from the Souss-Massa-Draa province of Morocco subject to a systems approach similar to that which is already in place for tomatoes imported into the United States from other provinces within Morocco. The tomatoes will have to be produced under conditions that include requirements for pest exclusion at the production site, fruit fly trapping inside the production site and pest-exclusionary packinghouse procedures. The tomatoes will also be required to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the Moroccan national plant protection organization with an additional declaration stating that the tomatoes have been grown in registered pest-exclusionary structures in the Souss-Massa-Draa region and were pink at the time of packing. This action will allow for the importation of commercial consignments of tomatoes from the Souss-Massa-Draa province of Morocco into the United States while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests.
This final rule is published in today’s Nov. 2 Federal Register and becomes effective
Dec. 2.
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