United States Department of Agriculture

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Risk Management Document

Importation of Fresh Swiss Chard, Beta vulgaris L. ssp. cicla

(L.) Koch, from Colombia into the Continental United States

September 12, 2011

Plant Health Programs (PHP)

Regulations, Permits, and Manuals

Contact Person: Dorothy C. Wayson
Version 1 14 July 2009

Introduction

In response to a request for market access to import fresh Swiss chard, Beta vulgaris L. ssp. cicla

(L.) Koch, from Colombia into the Continental United States, the Center for Plant Health Science 

and Technology (CPHST) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Animal and 

Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) prepared a pest risk assessment (PRA) (USDA, 2011a) 

as per the Guidelines for Pathway-Initiated Pest Risk Assessment (USDA, 2000). 

This pest risk assessment (USDA, 2011a) identified the following quarantine pests in the 

pathway of fresh Swiss chard imported into the Continental United States:

Copitarsia incommoda Walker (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Liriomyza huidobrensis Blanchard (Diptera: Agromyzidae)

For the insect species, Copitarsia incommoda and Liriomyza huidobrensis, the overall Pest Risk 

Potential were estimated to be high. Specific phytosanitary measures are strongly recommended 

for pests rated high. 

The PRA initially gave a High rating for Pest Risk Potential to Ralstonia solanacearum Race 3 

Biovar 2 (R3B2), but concluded that the bacterium is unlikely to become established in the 

United States via the pathway of vegetables for consumption (USDA, 2011a), so the pest was not 

further analyzed and was not considered of quarantine concern. 

Risk Management Measures for Swiss Chard from Colombia

 Swiss chard must imported as commercial consignments only

 APHIS requires a phytosanitary certificate (PC) be issued by the Colombian National 

Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) for each consignment to assure that the Swiss 

chard is free of pests. The PC must be accompanied by an additional declaration (AD) 

stating: “This consignment has been inspected and is free from Copitarsia incommoda 

and Liriomyza huidobrensis”.

 Each consignment is subject to inspection upon arrival at port of entry to the United 

States.

Evidence for the Effective Removal of Pest of Concern from the Pathway

By restricting the importation of fresh Swiss chard to commercial consignments only, we will 

ensure that appropriate sanitation practices are in place to prevent the introduction of 

contamination and hitchhiker pests discussed in the PRA.

Requiring a PC with an AD stating that the consignment is free of Copitarsia incommoda and

Liriomyza huidobrensis ensures that the NPPO of Colombia will inspect the commodity for the 
Version 1 14 July 2009

pests of concern. The AD will also alert Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspectors to the 

pests of concern.

Currently, Swiss chard can be imported from many countries of the Caribbean, Central and South 

America into the United States subject only to inspection at the port of entry (USDA, 2011b). 

The pest interceptions to date indicate that inspection is effective in finding the two pests of 

concern (USDA, 2011a). 

Therefore, the measures described above would effectively remove the pests of concern from the 

pathway of fresh Swiss chard from Colombia. 

Conclusion

APHIS believes that the phytosanitary measures proposed in this document will result in the 

effective removal of potential quarantine pests associated with the importation of fresh Swiss 

chard from Colombia. Inspection is considered effective at finding external feeding pests and 

excluding infested shipments from entering commerce (McCullough et al., 2006).

References:

McCullough, D.G., T.T. Work, J. F. Cavey, A.M. Liebhold, and D. Marshall. 2006. 

Interceptions of nonindigenous plant pests at US ports of entry and border crossings over a 17-

year period. Biological Invasions 8: 611–630.

USDA. 2000. Guidelines for Pathway-Initiated Pest Risk Assessments, Version 5.02. USDAAPHIS, PPQ; http://oars.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/pra/commodity/cpraguide.pdf

USDA. 2011a. Importation of Fresh Swiss Chard, Beta vulgaris L. ssp. cicla

(L.) Koch, from Colombia into the Continental United States. Ver.5. Qualitative, PathwayInitiated Pest Risk Assessment. USDA, APHIS, CPHST, PERAL, Raleigh, NC. 39 pp.

USDA. 2011b. Fresh fruits and vegetables manual. 626 pp. 

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/plants/manuals/online_manuals.shtml. Accessed 

September 2011. 

Walter P. Gould

Senior Risk Manager - Entomology

José R. Hernández

Senior Risk Manager – Plant Pathology