Restricting on Tomatoes Imports

APHIS Issues Federal Order Restricting Imports of Tomatoes from Countries Where Tuta absoluta moths are known to occur.

The Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service(APHIS) has announced a Federal Order action that determined that the introduction and establishment of Tuta absolutaposes aserious plant pest threat to U.S. agriculture, including certain fruits or vegetables grown in the United States. This Federal Order becomes effective on March 10, 2009.

Tuta absoluta is a small moth in the family Gelechiidae, Order Lepidoptera. The larvae attack, feed on, and develop on all plant parts above ground. On leaves, larvae feed between the epidermal layers, causing irregular mines that may later become necrotic. Fruits can be attacked upon formation, and the galleries formed inside them can be infected by secondary pathogens causing fruit rot. Pupation can be either in the soil, on the leaf surface, or within mines.

Pursuant to this order, APHIS will require that shipments of field-grown green tomatoes from Algeria, France, Morocco, and Spain meet additional import requirements to prevent the introduction and establishment of Tutu absoluta.

Current regulations provide for the importation of pink or red tomatoes from France, Morocco, and Spain if grown in accordance with a systems approach to mitigate the risk associated with the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata. APHIS believes that the existing systems approach, with some additional requirements, will provide the appropriate level of phytosanitary security for tomatoes originating from areas infested with Tuta absoluta.