Center for Plant Health Science and Technology
Treatment Quality Assurance Unit |
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Commodity Treatment Information System
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Location: Raleigh, NC |
In 2003, the Treatment Quality Assurance Unit (TQAU) was established to assume some of the original responsibilities of Oxford Methods Development Center in Oxford, NC. Transferred responsibilities included commodity treatment research review, original certification of facilities (hot water, cold treatment, and methyl bromide), vessel and container certification, and technology transfer of new AQI technologies.
TQAU works to safeguard American agriculture and natural resources by developing, adapting and supporting technology to detect, identify and mitigate the risk posed by exotic pests in preclearance programs, NPPO countries and ports of entry. The Agency’s last line of defense against an exotic pest invasion is the commodity treatment that mitigates this risk. Currently, core activities within TQAU include quarantine treatment development, treatment manual support for ports of entry, shipping container and vessel certification, methyl bromide and in-transit cold treatment use database maintenance, training-the-trainer for proper application of treatments and certification of international commodity treatment facilities within foreign countries, and conducting treatment quality assurance audits on commodity treatments. Commodity treatments are conducted by National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) officers and PPQ and IS personnel at foreign sites.
In general, the most common work-related issues are in-transit cold treatments on vessels and containers, hot water treatment of mangoes, methyl bromide and phosphine fumigations of imported and exported commodities, vapor heat facilities, and Niger seed heat treatments (domestic and foreign). Irradiation treatment in foreign locations is anticipated to begin in 2007 and increase rapidly. Irradiation facilities reviews and audits will become a major activity of TQAU.
The TQAU is located on North Carolina State University’s Centennial Campus in Raleigh, NC. The TQAU staff consists of a director, two treatment program managers, three pest exclusion specialists, and two technicians.
2007-2008 New Projects |
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Recent Accomplishments
- Developed electronic treatment commodity information system consisting of various databases including the 429 fumigation, 556 cold treatment and irradiation treatments
- Reviewed and provided recommendations on commodity treatment research (both new and currently used)
- Performed audits on non-chemical treatments (e.g., hot water, vapor heat, and cold treatments) and chemical treatments (e.g., methyl bromide treatments)
- Certified approximately 65 vessels and 64,000 containers for in-transit cold treatments
- Trained NPPO officers from Turkey, Egypt, and India in cold treatment operational procedures and the 556 cold treatment database
- The 556 cold treatment database is being used in 8 countries by International Services and/or NPPO, and the real-time remote monitoring data upload for the 556 cold treatment database was successfully tested on 6 containers during transit.