**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 Contine ntal United States

**September 1**  **2, 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 c hard , Beta vulgaris L. s sp. 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 (APHI S) prepared a pest ris k assessment (PRA) (USDA , 2011 a) 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 c hard imported into the Conti nental United States : Copitarsia incommoda Walker (L epidoptera: Noctuidae) Liriomyza huidobrensis Blanchard (Diptera: Agromy zidae) For the insect species , Copitarsia incommoda and Liriomyza huidobrensis, the overall Pest Risk Potential were estimated to be h igh. Specific phy tosanitary measures are strong ly

recommended for pests rated h igh. 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 be com e established in the United States via the pathway of vegetables for consumption (USDA, 2011 a), so the pest was not further analy

zed and was not c onsidered of quarantine concern . **Risk Management Measures for S**  **wiss Chard from Colombia** 

 S wis s c hard must imported as commercial consignments only

 APHI S requires a phy tosanitary certificate (PC) be issued by the Colombian National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO ) for each consignment to assure that the Swiss c hard is free of pests. The PC must be accompanie d by an additional decl aration (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 f**

**or the Effective Removal of Pest of Concern from the Pathway** B y restricting the importation of fresh Swiss c hard to commercial consignments only, we will ensure that appropriate sanitation practices are in place to prevent the introduction of contaminatio n 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 ensure s that the NPPO of Colombia will inspect the commodity for theVersion 1 14 July 2009

pests of conc ern. The AD will also alert Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspectors to the pests of concern. Currently, Swiss c hard 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 inspecti on 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 fres h Swiss c hard from Colombia . **Conclusion** APHI S believes that the phy tosanitary measures proposed in this document will result in the effective removal of potential quarantine pests associated with the importation of fresh Swiss c hard from Colombia. In s pection 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. Li ebhold , and D . Marshall . 2006. Interceptio ns of nonindigenous plant pests at US ports of entry and border crossings over a 17 - ye ar period . Biological Invasions 8: 611

– 630 . USDA. 2000. Guidelines for Pathway- In itiated Pest Risk Assessments, Version 5.02. USDA APHI S, PPQ; http://oars.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/pra/commodity /cpraguide.pdf USDA. 2011 a . Importation of Fresh Swiss Chard, Beta vulgaris L. ssp. cicla (L.) Koch , from Colombia into the Continental United States . Ver.5 . Qualitative, PathwayIn itiated Pest Risk Assessment. USDA, APHI S, 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