USDA proposes rules for imports of Namibian table grapes

USDA proposes rules for imports of Namibian table grapes    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has proposed rules to allow the import of fresh table grapes from Namibia.
   The agency said the grapes would have to undergo cold treatment and fumigation with methyl bromide and would be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate declaring the shipments are pest free. The grapes will also be inspected at the first port arrival in the United States.
   The USDA will take comments for the proposed rule through Aug. 25. For more information, contact Sharon Porsche, import specialist, at (301) 734-8758.
   The USDA anticipates minimal domestic economic impact from these imports. U.S. imports of Namibian table grapes in the first year of the rule’s implementation should only result in about 22.5 40-foot containers (about 744,000 pounds), which would account for less than 0.1 percent of current U.S. fresh table grape imports. Most of table grapes are imported into the United States from Chile and Mexico.