**United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service**  **Plant Protection and Quarantine**


## Allow **ing a new cold treatment facility at Mascoutah, Illinois,**  **located outside the area currently authorized**  **1**


## Treatment **Evaluation Document**

**Date** : August 2012 **Treatment Type:** Cold Treatment **Commodity:** An y commodity approved to receive cold treatment **Country of origin:** Various **Objective:** To provide supporting information and justification for allowing a new cold treatment facility

to be located at Mascoutah, Illinois. When approved , the facility would operate under conditions that are similar to those required for other facilities located outside the permitted area , and equivalent to those under which irradiation faci lities in the southern United States would operate. **Overview:** The current regulations on cold treatment, 7CFR 305.6, allow the establishment of cold treatment facilities for phy tosanitary applications in certain specific areas of the United States as follows: For articles that are imported or moved interstate from Hawaii or U.S. territories, cold treatment facilities may be located on the mainland United States either in the area that is north of 39 o latitude and east of 104 o longitude , or under special conditions at one of the following ports: The maritime ports of Wilmington, NC; Seattle, WA; Corpus Christi, TX; and Gulfport, MS; Seattle

- Tacoma International Airport, Seattle, WA; and Hartsfield

- Atl anta International Airport, Atlanta, GA. These regulations are in place primaril y to prevent spread of tropical fruit flies in the family Tephritidae from fruit and vegetable hosts

. The special conditions vary

for each port or airport , but essentially i nclude requiring that the facilit y must agree in advance on the route by which shipments are allowed to move between the vessel on which they

arrive and the cold treatment facility ; untreated articles may not be removed from their packaging prior to treatm ent under an y circumstances; black light or sticky paper must be used within the facility , and other trapping methods, including APHIS

- approved fruit fl y traps, must be used within the 4 square miles surrounding the facility ; and the facility must have

1 Area enclosed by 39 o latitude and 104 o longitude and any of the following ports: The maritime ports of Wilmington, NC; Seattle, WA; Corpus Christi, TX; and Gulfport, MS; Seattle

- Tacoma International Airport, Seattle, WA; and Hartsfield

- Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, GA.contingency plans, approved by

APHI S, for safel y destroying or disposing of regulated articles that are contaminated with pests. Prior to treatment, the fruits and vegetables may not move into or through an y of the area that is currentl y not allowed to have c old treatment facility , except that m ovement is allowed through Dallas/Fort Worth, TX, as an authorized stop for air cargo, or as a trans

- loading location for shipments that arrive b y air but that are subsequently trans

- loaded into trucks for overland move ment from Dallas/Fort Worth into an authorized State by the shortest route. For articles moving interstate from areas quarantined for fruit flies and that are to be cold treated outside of the quarantined area, the articles must be accompanied to the fa cility by a limited permit issued in accordance with 7CFR 301.32

- 5(b) , and must be moved in accordance with any safeguards determined to be appropriate b y APHIS. The special conditions , as described above and required for locations in the southern States , are not required for fruit arriving in northeastern United States that requires treatment as a condition of entry . The special conditions were put in place to minimize the risk of fruit fl y escape during the transport of fruit fly host material to locati ons approved for cold treatment in the southern United States. Subsequent to the publication of rules allowing the above locations for conducting cold treatments to meet United States entry requirements, APHI S has become aware of a considerable interest in having cold treatment facilities in States or places that are currently not allowed. APHI S has received a petition dated August 1, 2012, from North Bay Produce, Inc. requesting APHI S to consider allowing a cold treatment facility to be located at MidA merica St. Louis Airport, Mascoutah, Il linois. This location is approximately 40 miles south of 39 o latitude and approximately

700 miles east of 104 o longitude. If approved, the compan y (North Bay Produce) plans to bring air shipments of articles, primaril y blueberries, through this airport for cold treatment. **Evaluation:** APHI S has evaluated the proposed location and determined that the set of special conditions or criteria described below is adequate to manage the fruit fly risks associated with this location , and recommends approving the location as a pilot program to conduct cold treatment of articles imported or moved interstate from areas quarantined for fruit flies. The criteria include multiple layers of protection to minimize risk from fruit fly escape during transport or at the facility. **Special Conditions 2**  **for the Mascoutah, IL cold treatment facility**
1. The location for the facility must be within an area over which the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has the authority to enforce the various provisions of the customs and navigation laws in force. The location for the facility also needs to be within th e local commuting area for APHIS employees to perform oversight and monitoring activities as provided in the regulations 7 CFR 305.
2. APHIS will evaluate safeguards in light of the plant health risks involved and approve the operation of a treatment faci lity in that location subject to the following conditions to be agreed upon by the involved parties and included in a Facility Compliance Agreement (FCA):

2 These speci al conditions are in addition to those required for the area enclosed by 39 o latitude and 104 o longitude2.1 The facility will only be certified if the Administrator determines that the regulated articles could

be safely transported to the facility from the point of entry or origin without significant risk that plant pests will escape in transit to the facility or while the regulated articles are at the facility.
2.2 Bulk consignments (those consignments which are stowed and unloaded by the case or bin) of fruit must arrive in pest

- proof packaging that prevents the escape of the pests of concern. 2.3 The facility must ensure that pest

-proof cartons are off loaded from containers in a safeguarded environment and at no time are the articles to be removed from the insect proof cartons prior to the treatment.
2.4 Arrangements for treatment must be made before the departure of a consignment from its point of entry or origin. The cold treatment facility and APHIS must agree in advance on the route by which consignments are allowed to move between the aircraft on which they arrived at the airport and the cold treatment facility

. 2.5 The facility must have an APHIS approved contingency plan for safely destroying o r disposing of untreated or improperly treated frui t. 2.6 The facility must maintain physical separation of treated articles from untreated articles and apply all required safeguards ; e.g. , the treated articles are packaged in insect proof containers, be fore releasing or for movement to other States. **Decision:** Approve the location at Mascoutah airport to have a cold treatment facility under special conditions as described above.

**Author:** Dr. Inder P.S. Gadh,

Senior Risk Manager

– Treatments, USDA APHI S PPQ RPM