No more pears in the U.S. Export Apple Act

No more pears in the U.S. Export Apple Act After nearly seven years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has finally removed any lingering references to pears from the U.S. Export Apple Act.
   Congress agreed to the changes when it passed the U.S. Export Apple Act, formerly the Export Apple and Pear Act, in 1999.
   The earlier legislation provided issuance of quality, container, container marking and pack requirements for both apples and pears. In 1999, these standards only pertained to apple exporters. However, some references to pears in the USDA's regulations remained.
   In the 1990s, the U.S. pear industry sought greater flexibility in selling pears to overseas markets. Representatives of firms packing and exporting pears, namely from Washington, Oregon and California, petitioned the Congress to make the changes to the legislation.
   'The proponents for the removal of pears from the act believe that private contractual arrangements between buyers and sellers control the quality of U.S. pear exports, and that mandatory federal grade, size, quality, pack, container and inspection requirements are no longer needed to assure the quality and condition of exported pears, and to assure that the pears are properly packed,' the USDA said.
   'The quality of pears demanded by most buyers in current export markets is higher than the minimum standards that were implemented under the enabling legislation,' the department added.
   According to the USDA, there are about 100 U.S. pear exporters who shipped about 154,324 tons of pears during the 2005-2006 season. The largest volumes of pears went to Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Russia, and Colombia. Other export markets include New Zealand, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.