The Hindu : National : “No threat of pests from American apples”

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Friday, Oct 19, 2007
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“No threat of pests from American apples”

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday asserted that there was no threat of pests entering India through American apples. Procedures, in consonance with the international convention, were being followed before permitting imports.

“There are no reports of interception of either any quarantined pests from the imported apple consignments from the U.S. or any non-compliance with Indian plant quarantine regulations,” the Agriculture Ministry said. The clarification came in response to media reports that apples imported from the U.S. carried exotic pests and were not being quarantined properly.

For any quarantine plant material entering India, the exporting country has to provide a phytosanitary certificate, and the exporter has to meet certain conditions to ensure against infestation.

The consignments are inspected at Indian ports, and approval is granted only after they have passed through an established procedure.

The Ministry said pest risk analysis was a continuous process and was product and country-specific, which ensured protection from the introduction of exotic pests and diseases.

In apples, the pest and disease likely to be carried by the fruit alone were quarantined. “If any pest/disease, even if affecting apple gardens or other parts of the plant, does not affect the fruit, then such pest/disease may not have a chance of entry into India through the import of apples,” it said.

It is mandatory for the exporting country to certify in the phytosanitary document that the consignment is free from the specified pests and diseases as listed in Schedule VI of the Plant Quarantine (Regulation of Import into India) Order, 2003.

As for apples, the product should be free of the Mediterranean fruit fly, codling moth, light brown apple moth, firelight, scarlet mealy bug, Comstock mealy bug and apple maggot. Besides, the Ministry press note said, every consignment was thoroughly screened at the ports.

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