USDA considers papaya imports from Colombia, Ecuador

USDA considers papaya imports from Colombia, Ecuador    The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has proposed regulations to allow, under certain conditions, the import of fresh papayas from Colombia and Ecuador to enter the continental United States.
   The regulations include pest-control measures at various stages of the supply chain, including production locations, field sanitation, hot water treatment, packing and shipping, and fruit-fly trapping in papaya production areas.
   'The proposed systems approach to pest mitigation for importation of papayas from Colombia and Ecuador has been used successfully to mitigate the risk associated with the importation of papayas from Central America and Brazil,' the agency said in a Federal Register notice published Tuesday.
   USDA will accept public comments regarding the proposed regulations through June 22. The Federal Register notice is available here.