Tomatoes from here get right to travel to the north
The United States will allow importation from Costa Rica of pink and red tomatoes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has ruled.
The ruling also covers El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
The department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced Monday that it is amending its regulations to allow, under certain conditions, the importations.
Tomatoes were not allowed in the past due to concerns about insects and diseases.
To be eligible for importation, the tomatoes must be grown and packed in areas free of the Mediterranean fruit fly. A preharvest inspection of the production site must be conducted by the national plant protection organization of the exporting country and the site must be found free of pea leafminer, a destructive pest of vegetables and flowers; tomato fruit borer, a serious tomato plant pest; and potato spindle tuber viroid, a disease that affects tomato and potato crops, the department said.
The tomatoes must also be packed in insect-proof containers or covered with insect-proof mesh or plastic tarpaulin during transit to the United States, it added.
In addition, each shipment of tomatoes must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the exporting country with an additional declaration stating that the tomatoes were grown in a Medfly-free area and the shipment was inspected and found free of all pests listed in the requirements.
In Costa Rica, the Ministerio de la Producción will do the inspection and certification.
This final rule was scheduled to be published Monday in Federal Register and was to become effective upon publication.