USDA considers Philippine banana imports

   The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said it’s considering regulations to allow the import of fresh bananas from the Philippines.
   As a condition of entry, the bananas would have to be produced in accordance with a “systems approach” that would include requirements for commercial imports, monitoring of fruit flies at production sites, harvesting only hard green bananas, and inspection for quarantine pests by the Philippines’ national plant protection organization.
   The bananas would also have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration stating that they were grown, packed, and inspected and found to be free of quarantine pests in accordance with the proposed requirements.
   “This action would allow the importation of bananas from the Philippines while continuing to protect against the introduction of plant pests into the United States,” APHIS said.
   The agency will receive comments about the proposed regulation through June 15. For more details, see the Federal Register notice.