APHIS’ Plant Protection and Quarantine Expands Risk-Based Sampling for Bananas and Plantains at U.S. Ports of Entry
APHIS’ Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will expand the Risk-Based Sampling at Ports of Entry (RBS POE) program for fresh banana and plantain shipments starting the week of March 25, 2024. The goals of RBS POE are to reduce inspections on entities importing commodities compliant with current pest and disease regulations and provide incentives for producers to increase the quality of their goods.
The expanded RBS POE combinations (Conveyance + Commodity + Country of origin) are as follows:
Conveyance | Commodity | Country of Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Maritime only | Banana | Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru |
| Maritime only | Plantain | Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru |
There are no changes to the required entry paperwork, however PPQ and CBP recommend trading partners file entry paperwork prior to arrival if possible and include APHIS Core Message Set data to ensure their shipments are processed according to RBS POE procedures.
For questions about this announcement please contact the Risk-Based Sampling at Ports of Entry Team at: E-mail: ppq.rbs@usda.gov or the CBP Information Center at https://help.cbp.gov/s/questions
For more information on Risk Based Sampling please visit our website: USDA APHIS | Risk-Based Sampling.