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



## Risk Management Document



## Spinach

, Spinacia oleracea L , from Colombia into the
Continental United States

March 3 1, 20 1 0

Plant Health Programs (PHP) Regulations, Permits and Manuals ( RPM )

Contact Person: Dorothy WaysonVersion 1 31 March 20 1 0 Introduction

In response to a request for market access to import fresh spinach

, Spinacia oleracea L.

, from

Colombia in to the Continental United S tates , 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

, 2007) as per the Guidelines for Pathwa y

- Initiated Pest Risk Assessment (USDA

, 2000)

.

This pest risk assessment identified the following quarantine pests in the pathway of fresh spinach imported into the Continental United States :

Copitarsia incommoda Walker (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Diabrot ica speciosa (Germar) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) Liriomyza huidobrensis Blanchard (Diptera: Agromyzidae)

For these species

, the ratings for the c onsequences of i ntroduction, the l ikelihood of

i ntroduction, and the overall Pest Risk Potential were estimat ed to be h igh. Specific phytosanitary measures are strong ly recommended for pests rated h igh.

Risk Management Measures for Spinach from Colombia

**•** Spinach must imported as commercial shipments only

**•** APHIS requires a phytosanitary certificate be issued b y the Colombian NPPO for each shipment to assure that the spinach is free of pests, with an additional declaration stating: “This shipment has been inspected and is free from Copitarsia incommoda, Diabrotica speciosa , and Liriomyza huidobrensis ”.

**•** Each sh ipment 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

B y restricting the importation of fresh spinach to commercial consignments only, we will ensure

tha t appropriate sanitation practices are in place to prevent the introduction of contamination and hitchhiker pests discussed in the PRA.

Requiring a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration that the shipment is free of Copitarsia incommoda , Diabrotica speciosa , and Liriomyza huidobrensis ensure s that the NPPO of Colombia will inspect the commodity for the pests of concern. The additional declaration will also alert Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspectors to the pests of concern.

Cu rrently spinach can be imported from many countries of the Caribbean and Central America into the United States subject only to inspection at the port of entry (USDA, 2009)

. The interceptions to date indicate that inspection is effective in finding the th ree pests of concern (USDA, 2007).Version 1 31 March 20 1 0 Therefore, the measures described above would effectively remove the pests of concern from the pathway of fresh spinach from Colombia

.

Conclusion

APHIS believes that the phytosanitary measures proposed in this docu ment will result in the effective removal of potential quarantine pests associated with the importation of fresh spin a ch

from Colombia. Inspection is considered effective at finding external feeding pests and excluding infested shipments from entering com merce ( 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 I nvasio ns 8: 611

– 630

.

USDA. 2000. Guidelines for Pathway

- Initiated Pest Risk Assessments, Version 5.02. USDA

APHIS, PPQ; http://oars.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/pra/commodity/cpraguide.pdf

USDA. 2 00 7 . Importation of Fresh Spinach ( Spinacia oleracea L innaeus ) from Colombia into the Continental United States. Qualitative, Pathway

- Initiated Pest Risk Assessment. USDA, APHIS, CPHST, PERAL, Raleigh, NC. 36 pp.

USDA. 2009. Fresh fruits and vegetabl es manual. 626 pp. http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/plants/manuals/online_manuals.shtml Accessed July

2009.

Walter P. Gould Senior Risk Manager