CBP ramps up for Medfly along Mexican border

CBP ramps up for Medfly along Mexican border    U.S. Customs and Border Protection has implemented emergency actions to protect American farmers against an outbreak of Mediterranean fruit flies.
   The Medfly was detected in the municipality of Tijuana in Baja California, Mexico. CBP and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service set up emergency interim measures at all land border ports in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas.
   Commercial agricultural shipments on the Medfly host list that enter these U.S. land border ports will require a USDA phytosanitary certificate as well as a special declaration indicating that the cargo originated outside the Baja, Mexico area and was not packed in or transited through that area, CBP said.
   The Medfly can attack up to 250 different types of fruits, nuts and vegetables. “Because this insect pest is so potentially injurious to crops, year-round trapping is maintained as an early warning system in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California, and in northern Mexico and Baja,” CBP said in a statement.