Fly prompts US ban on Dominican Republic fruit

Washington.- The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on Wednesday issued import restrictions on “host commodities from the Dominican Republic into or through the United States,” on detection of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly (Ceratitis capitata) in the Caribbean nation.

“Effective immediately, APHIS is restricting imports of certain fruits and vegetables from the Dominican Republic into the United States to prevent the introduction of the Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly). APHIS is also prohibiting overland in-bond transit movements of these materials south of 39° latitude in the United States. APHIS is taking this action in response to multiple detections of Medfly in the Punta Cana region of the Dominican Republic,” APHIS said.

The following commodities are prohibited from the Dominican Republic: avocado, Clementine, grape, grapefruit, lemon, litchi, longan, mamey (sapote), mandarin, mango, orange, papaya, pepper, pummel, tangelo, tangerine, tomato and tuna (cactus fruit)

Commercial shipments of mangoes from the Dominican Republic will continue to be enterable under the conditions of the APHIS hot water treatment preclearance program.

"This action is necessary immediately to prevent the entry of Medfly into the United States," it said.

For additional information regarding this Federal Order, please contact Senior Regulatory Policy Specialist Tony Román at 301-851-2242 or via email at Juan.A.Roman@aphis.usda.gov.