Tooting their horn

Posting from North Richland Hills, Texas this a.m.

As I was trying to sift through my inbox this morning, I noted that the Customs and Border Patrol is getting proactive about announcing their successful pest exclusion efforts. I don't recall previous press releases describing in blow by blow detail their successes at the border. Perhaps the effort by some members of Congress and much of the U.S. produce grower community to move invasive pest border inspectors back to the USDA from DHS is spurring a greater PR effort.

Here is what arrived just in the past 24 hours:

MIAMI – CBP agriculture specialists were conducting an inspection of a cargo container with a shipment of tiles from Spain, when they discovered an adult Eurygaster sp, .better known as a Sunn Pest, inside the container arriving at the Port of Miami.

The pest was captured by a CBP agriculture specialist July 24 and sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Miami Inspection Station. Scientists there identified the pest as an adult Sunn Pest. The container with its contents was safeguarded and transported to a USDA quarantine station for treatment.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is responsible for ensuring that no intruders enter the United States undetected, including intruders that threaten U.S. agriculture.

The Sunn Pest is well known as a serious limiting factor for production of wheat grain from southern Europe and North Africa to eastern Europe and the Near and Middle East. Insect-damaged wheat contains a protease enzyme, which degrades the gluten protein and causes rapid relaxation of dough and results in the production of bread with poor volume and texture.

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LOS ANGELES---The U.S. avoided the introduction of a dangerous new pest when alert U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists at Los Angeles International Airport intercepted mealy bugs as well as two other foreign pests that hitched rides on imported plants and fresh cut flowers from Guatemala and Australia.

The mealy bug attacks plants, especially citrus trees.

Director of Los Angeles Field Operations for Customs and Border Protection Kevin Weeks said, “These pests have never been seen in the Continental United States. CBP agriculture specialists provide a significant service to our country by protecting our borders from not only threats to our agriculture, but also chemical and biological terrorism.”


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The United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service on August 3 notified U.S. Customs and Border Protection that Foot and Mouth Disease has been diagnosed in cattle in the United Kingdom.

Foot and Mouth Disease is a highly contagious, viral disease of cattle, swine and other cloven-hoofed animals, such as goats and sheep. The virus is not transmitted from animals to humans, but does have serious implications for livestock in any country where the disease is detected.
CBP is firmly committed to preventing the introduction into the U.S. of Foot and Mouth Disease. In response to the outbreak in the U.K., CBP is taking the following actions

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SANTA TERESA, NEW MEXICO – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers performing anti-terror inspections at the Santa Teresa port of entry made a large seizure of prohibited avocados and pork meat Tuesday night. CBP officers seized 38 pounds of undeclared avocados and 39 pounds or pork while performing inspections at the southern New Mexico border crossing.

The seizure was made at about 8:15 p.m. when a vehicle towing a small trailer entered the facility from Mexico. CBP officers performed a primary inspection of the vehicle and received a negative declaration from the driver. CBP officers then initiated a secondary search of the vehicle and trailer and discovered several boxes containing the prohibited avocados and pork.




I was pleased to see a couple of more members join the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group during the past day. Here are some new posts from the group today:

Green farmers face ruin in Africa Luis posts story that notes organic growers in Africa face a Western obsession with food miles:
But the Soil Association, which certifies about 80 per cent of organic produce in Britain, has threatened to take away the organic certification from farms in East Africa because their produce is transported to Europe by air, contributing to global warming.

Failure in FDA import alert system Big Apple posts link to AP story about failures in FDA's import alert system relating to Chinese seafood imports.


Changes to peach and nectarine marketing order assessment rate Big Apple posts FR final rule that gives notice of huge drop in assessment rate for nectarine and peach marketing orders. From today's rule (effective Aug. 10). This is a wild swing in the assessment rate and one wonders if financial pressures on the industry played a role in the belt tightening.
From the summary:


This rule decreases the assessment rates established for the Nectarine Administrative Committee and the Peach Commodity Committee (committees) for the 2007-08 and subsequent fiscal periods from $0.21 to $0.06 per 25-pound container or container equivalent of nectarines and peaches handled. The committees locally administer the marketing orders that regulate the handling of nectarines and peaches grown in California. Assessments upon nectarine and peach handlers are used by the committees to fund reasonable and necessary expenses of the programs. The fiscal period runs from March 1 through the last day of February. The assessment rates will remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.