South African clementines arrive pest-free

South African clementines arrive pest-free    South Africa's Western Cape Citrus Producers Forum (WCCPF) has reported 100-percent pest-free clearance by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for South African clementines.
   Before leaving South Africa and again on arrival in the United States, USDA examines samples of all citrus for live insects or larvae. During the last 21 days, the department has found no rejections in all U.S.-bound clementines.
   'For many years, our aggressive and scientific farming practices have worked to reduce pests,' said Gerrit van der Merwe, chairman of the Western Cape Citrus Producers Forum. 'We meet and exceed all USDA requirements for our fruit and our program is a model for safety and freshness.'
   South Africa's growers in the Western Cape region have worked to eliminate the false codlingmoth. Endemic to sub-Saharan Africa, the pest has become resistant to customary treatments. WCCPF growers use an advanced scientific program known as X-SIT or Sterile Insect Technique where false codlingmoth insects are sterilized. When released to mate, there are no resulting offspring. The effort has reduced the population of the pest by 95 percent.
   The X-SIT program was pioneered in Citrusdal, South Africa, a primary growing region for fruit exported to the United States.
   An additional step taken by the WCCPF is in shipping the citrus cold from Cape Town to the port of Philadelphia in special refrigerated vessels or temperature-controlled containers.
   The fruit remains at a cold 32 degrees Fahrenheit for 24 days to assure any errant pests will be eliminated from the shipment. Other countries exporting to the United States prefer to use fumigation or chemical treatments of their fruit on arrival in the country. While that may kill pests on their fruit, it introduces chemicals to the product and reduces the freshness and shelf life in stores and in consumers' homes, the WCCPF said.
   'The cold temperature of 32 F for 24 days is very tough for the fruit as it is very cold,' van der Merwe said. 'While the cold will kill any latent pests, the extended time can also be damaging to the fruit. The internationally recognized and accepted protocols and in fact, all scientific studies indicate cold for no longer than 22 days is more than sufficient for the purposes of addressing latent pests.'
   The USDA increased the requirements of South African Summer Citrus from 22 to 24 days in 2005 after one larva was allegedly found in a single carton. The authenticity of the claim was never verified, according to the WCCPF.
   Citrus from South Africa reach U.S. consumer from June through October. As a wintertime fruit, domestic citrus such as oranges and clementines from Florida and California are not available in the summer months here. Since exporting to the United States from South Africa began in 1999, the shipments have grown from an initial 50 tons then to some 41,000 tons in 2010.
   Next to Spain, South Africa is the world's second-largest exporter of citrus, producing 60 percent of all citrus fruits grown in the Southern Hemisphere. Other than the United States, South Africa's primary export markets include the European Union, Far East, Middle East, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the rest of Africa.