USDA to allow tomato imports from certain Central American countries

USDA to allow tomato imports from certain Central American countries The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will allow imports of pink and red tomatoes grown in approved production sites in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama to enter the United States.
   The USDA has set up a number of requirements for permissible importation, including insect trapping, pre-harvest inspection, and shipping procedures, to prevent the introduction of plant pests from these countries in the United States.
   The agency emphasized that its import conditions for the six Central American countries is similar to what it requires already for tomato shipments from France, Morocco and Western Sahara, and Spain.
   For the past six years, fresh tomato imports have accounted for 34 percent of the U.S. supply. More than one-third of annual imports arrive in the United States during the winter months, with the bulk coming from Mexico, the USDA said.