United States Department of Agriculture

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Pacaya (Chamaedorea tepejilote Liebm.) from Guatemala

into the Continental United States

Risk Management Document

January 18, 2012

Plant Health Programs (PHP)

Regulations, Permits and Manuals (RPM)

Contact Person: Claudia Ferguson
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Introduction

In response to a request for market access to import fresh immature inflorescences of pacaya, 

Chamaedorea tepejilote Liebm., into the continental United States from El Salvador, the United 

States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 

(APHIS) prepared a pest risk assessment (PRA) as per the Guidelines for Pathway-Initiated Pest 

Risk Assessment (USDA. 2000). The PRA included information from other countries in the 

growing region in the analysis, particularly Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa 

Rica, and Panama.

Since pacaya has never been a significant agronomic commodity in Central America, little 

information exists about its production and pest problems. Thus, APHIS included information 

from other countries in the growing region in the analysis, particularly Mexico, Honduras, 

Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. In addition, confusion exists about the 

taxonomy of pacaya palm, so APHIS included information about three other taxa in the PRA as 

well: 1) Chamaedorea sp., 2) C. alterans, which has frequently been confused with C. tepejilote 

(Bacon and Bailey, 2006), and 3) C. costaricacannse, which is sometimes referred to as a pacaya 

in the literature. The pest risk assessment document, Importation of Fresh Immature 

Inflorescences of Pacaya, Chamaedorea tepejilote Liebmm, from El Salvador into the 

Continental United States, found two quarantine pests likely to follow the pathway of immature 

inflorescences of pacaya imported from Central America (USDA. 2009). The pests that follow 

the pathway are:

Brooksithrips chamaedoreae Retana & Mound (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) thrips

Sarasinula plebeia (Fischer) (Systellommatophora: Veronicellidae) Caribbean leatherleaf slug

The PRA determined that the pest risk is Medium for Sarasinula plebeia and Low for 

Brooksithrips chamaedoreae. 

Pests assigned a Low Pest Risk Potential typically do not require specific mitigation measures as 

port-of-entry inspection is expected to provide sufficient phytosanitary security. For pests with a 

Medium Pest Risk Potential, specific phytosanitary measures may be necessary.

Risk mitigations required will include: port of entry inspection, commercial shipments only, and 

inspection by the National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) and phytosanitary certificate 

(PC) indicating the commodity has been inspected and no pests are present is required.

Risk Management Measures

The following risk management measures must be followed for pacaya from Guatemala to be 

imported into the United States:

 Pacaya must be imported as commercial shipments only.
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 Each consignment of pacaya must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued 

by NPPO of the exporting country stating that the pacaya in the consignment has been 

inspected and is free of Brooksithrips chamaedoreae and Sarasinula plebeia.

 Each shipment is subject to inspection upon arrival at port of entry to the United States.

Conclusion

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

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

pacaya from Central America. Sarasinula plebeia is a slug, and it is unlikely that this pest will 

remain in commercial shipments that have been inspected by the NPPO. This pest is normally

considered to be a hitchhiking pest by APHIS, and one that in spite of medium pest risk rating is

easily inspected for. The other pest, Brooksithrips chamaedoreae, is rated low in the PRA, and 

according to the PRA guidelines (APHIS, 2000), pests assigned a Low Pest Risk Potential 

typically do not require specific mitigation measures as port-of-entry inspection is expected to 

provide sufficient phytosanitary security. Inspection is considered effective at finding these two 

external feeding pests upon inspection and excluding infested shipments from entering 

commerce (Cavey, 2003; Wittenberg and Cock, 2001). 

Author

Walter P. Gould

Senior Risk Manager

References:

Bacon, C. D., and C. D. Bailey. 2006. Taxonomy and Conservation: A Case Study from 

Chamaedorea alternans. Annals of Botany 98:755-763.

Cavey, J.F. 2003. Mitigating introduction of invasive plant pests: the APHIS-PPQ Mission. 

From: Chapter 13, pp. 350-361 in Ruiz, G.M and J.T. Carlton. 2003. Invasive species: vectors 

and management strategies. Island Press, Washington, D.C. 518p.

USDA. 2000. Guidelines for Pathway-Initiated Pest Risk Assessments, Version 5.02. USDAAPHIS, PPQ. Permits and Risk Assessment. Commodity Risk Analysis Branch. 30 pp.

USDA. 2009. Importation of Fresh Immature Inflorescences of Pacaya, Chamaedorea tepejilote

Liebm., from El Salvador into the Continental United States. A Qualitative, Pathway-Initiated 

Pest Risk Assessment. USDA, APHIS, CPHST, PERAL, Raleigh, NC. 49 pp.

Wittenberg, R. and M.J.W. Cock. 2001. Invasive Alien Species: A toolkit of best prevention and 

management practices. CABI publishing, CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon, UK. 228 pp.