United States Department of Agriculture

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Commodity Import Evaluation Document (CIED)

Importation of Fresh Fruits of Kiwi

(Actinidia deliciosa and Actinidia chinensis) from Chile into 

the United States

Country of Origin: Chile Date of Request: 11/2012

Commodity: kiwi

Common name kiwi Scientific names: (Actinidia 

deliciosa Liang & Ferguson and 

Actinidia chinensis Planch.)

Plant Health Programs (PHP)

Regulations, Permits and Manuals (RPM)

Contact Person: Claudia Ferguson
2

Introduction

Chile was initially given market access for kiwi fruit in 1984 (USDA Decision Sheets on file in 

Riverdale), with inspection for any pests and a certification that the fruit came from a Medfly free 

area of Chile (USDA, undated). In 1996 there were numerous interceptions of Brevipalpus 

chilensis mites (Chilean false red mite) on kiwi from Chile at the ports of Philadelphia PA, 

Wilmington DE, Newark NJ and Long Beach CA. APHIS began requiring methyl bromide 

fumigation (T104-a-1), either in Chile or at the first port of arrival in the United States (USDA,

1996).

The mandatory fumigation for mites was lifted during the 1997-1998 season on a trial basis for a 

systems approach proposed by Chile in February 1997. Further adjustments to this systems 

approach were made in 2001. The volumes of kiwi fruit imported to the United States under this 

systems approach have been relatively low (Table 1). 

The systems approach for kiwi has been included in the Chile pre-clearance workplan, which 

covers exports of all fruits from Chile. The methyl bromide treatment for Brevipalpus chilensis

is available if mites are present, and is included in the PPQ Treatment Manual and in the Fresh 

Fruits and Vegetables Import Manual and FAVIR (USDA 2012a; 2012b; 2012c). Until recently, 

the systems approach for Chilean kiwi had not been listed in FAVIR and the Import Manual,

although the systems approach has been used since 1998 for Chilean kiwi fruit. (FAVIR has 

been recently updated to show the correct entry status for Chilean kiwi fruit under a systems 

approach.)

The original decision sheet for kiwi from Chile identified Medfly (Ceratitis capitata) as the only 

pest that followed the pathway of fresh kiwi (USDA, undated). In June 2010, APHIS 

recognized all of Chile as free of Medfly, so subsequently the only quarantine pest that is likely 

to follow the pathway of consignments of fresh kiwi is:

Brevipalpus chilensis Baker (Acari: Tenuipalpidae), Chilean false red mite

In a separate risk assessment that considered the likelihood and consequences of introducing 

Brevipalpus chilensis, this pest was rated as a Medium pest risk potential (USDA, 2008). Pests 

with medium pest risk potential may require measures in addition to inspection at the port of 

entry to mitigate risk (USDA, 2000). The main reason for the requirement of fumigation with 

methyl bromide for a medium risk pest was the frequency that this pest was intercepted by 

APHIS inspectors at ports of entry. 

Kiwi import volumes from Chile.

APHIS records on imports show, from 2006 to 2012, that 24 shipments of kiwi totaling 47,883 

cases of fruit were imported from Chile (Table 1). During the same period, about 13 million 

cases of kiwi were imported subject to methyl bromide fumigation at the port of entry.
3

Table 1. Kiwi imported from Chile 2006 – 2012

SEASON INSPECTED IN CHILE FUMIGATED With MB

cases lots cases

2006/2007 2,093,302

2007/2008 2,449 1 1,615,988

2008/2009 1,955,313

2009/2010 2,143,393

2010/2011 7,040 3 2,195,883

2011/2012 38,394 20 3,191,162

Pest Interceptions

APHIS has intercepted a number of pests (286 total) on Chilean kiwi since 1984 (Table 2). Most 

of the pests intercepted on Chilean kiwi are considered to be hitchhiking on the fruit, or some 

type of contaminant from the field or packing house. Examples of hitchhiking pests would 

include crickets, thrips and tenebrionid beetles. These same types of pests are intercepted on all 

types of fresh fruits imported to the United States from Chile. Since 1999, APHIS has 

intercepted far fewer pests: 15 Frankliniela australis (thrips), 1 Frankliniella sp., 1 Gryllus sp. 

(cricket), 1 Gelechiidae sp. (moth larva) and 7 Brevipalpus chilensis. All of these recent 

interceptions, except 1 thrips and 6 Brevipalpus chilensis mites, were intercepted by the APHIS 

preclearance program in Chile. The interceptions in Chile by APHIS pre-clearance meant that 

those consignments were not exported to the United States (unless fumigated with methyl 

bromide) and the places of production were subsequently excluded from the export program for 

the rest of the growing season, unless their exports were treated with methyl bromide. The other 

6 interceptions of Brevipalpus chilensis mites were at Philadelphia on kiwi after treatment with 

methyl bromide. As a result of this finding of live mites post-treatment, the methyl bromide 

treatment dosage for Brevipalpus chilensis mites was increased to make it more effective. Other 

than the methyl bromide treatment issue in 2006, only 1 quarantine pest—a thrips species—has

been intercepted on Chilean kiwi at a United States port of entry since 1998. 

Table 2. Pests intercepted with Chile kiwi from 1984 through 2012.

Species Family Number intercepted

Agrotis lutescens (Blanchard) Noctuidae 2

Rhodometra sacraria (Linnaeus) Geometridae 1

Hoplosphyrum griseus (Philippi) Gryllidae 9

Frankliniella cestrum Moulton Thripidae 15

Blapstinus punctulatus Solier Tenebrionidae 65

Faronta albilinea (Hubner) Noctuidae 1

Acanthoscelides pyrrhomelas Bruchidae 1
4

(Philippi) 

Conoderus rufangulus (Gyllenhal) Elateridae 9

Microgryllus pallipes Philippi Gryllidae 11

Arhyssus tricostatus (Spinola) Rhopalidae 8

Hylurgus ligniperda (Fabricius) Scolytidae 4

Neotermes chilensis (Blanchard) Kalotermitidae 2

Hylastes ater (Paykull) Scolytidae 5

Naupactus xanthographus 

(Germar)

Curculionidae 1

Kuschelina decorata (Blanchard) Chrysomelidae 4

Galgupha albipennis 

(Eschscholtz)

Thyreocoridae 1

Lithraeus egenus (Blanchard) Bruchidae 1

Sibinia albovittata Blanchard Cucurlionidae 1

Brevipalpus chilensis Baker Tenuipalpidae 31

Frankliniella australis (Morgan) Thripidae 16

Other Taxa intercepted 

not identified to species

Orthoptera sp. 1

Olethreutinae sp. Tortricidae 1

Tineidae sp. 1

Tortricinae sp. Tortricidae 7

Gryllus sp. Gryllidae 6

Gryllidae sp. 1

Tortricidae sp. 1

Nycterinus sp. Tenebrionidae 1

Nysius sp. Lygaeidae 9

Gelechiidae sp. 7

Chrysomelidae sp. 1

Cicadellidae sp. 1

Agrotis sp. Noctuidae 1

Sitona sp. Cucurlionidae 1

Blapstinus sp. Tenebrionidae 2

Listoderes sp. Cucurlionidae 1

Pseudococcidae sp. 1

Frankliniella sp. Thripidae 1

APHIS proposes to include the systems approach for Chilean kiwi fruit in the FAVIR and Fresh 

Fruits and Vegetables Import Manual since the fruit has been actually entering the United States 

using this system since 1998. The following measures are proposed:

Risk Management Measures

Monitoring and Oversight

The National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) of Chile must provide a workplan to APHIS 

that details the activities that the NPPO of Chile will, subject to APHIS’ approval of the 

workplan, carry out to meet the requirements of the systems approach and specific quarantine 

treatments that may be required. APHIS will be directly involved with the NPPO, Servicio 
5

Agricola y Ganadero (SAG) in monitoring and auditing implementation of the systems approach

and/or any quarantine treatments. 

The NPPO of Chile must visit and inspect registered places of production monthly, starting at 

least two months before harvest and continuing until the end of the shipping season, to verify that 

the growers are complying with the requirements of the systems approach. 

In addition to conducting inspections at the packinghouses, the NPPO of Chile must monitor 

packinghouse operations to verify that the packinghouses are complying with the requirements of 

the systems approach.

 

If the NPPO of Chile finds that a place of production or packinghouse is not complying with the 

requirements of the systems approach, no fruit from the place of production or packinghouse will 

be eligible for export to the United States until APHIS and the NPPO of Chile conduct an 

investigation and appropriate remedial actions have been implemented. 

The NPPO of Chile must review and maintain all forms and documents related to export program 

activities in places of production and packinghouses for at least 1 year and, as requested, provide 

them to APHIS for review. 

Requirements for places of production

Registered places of production. Kiwi fruit must be grown in places of production that are 

registered with the NPPO of Chile. The NPPO of Chile will visit and inspect the production sites 

monthly, starting two months before harvest, and continue until the end of the shipping season. 

The NPPO of Chile will certify that each place of production follows pest control guidelines, 

when necessary, to reduce regulated pest populations. APHIS may monitor the places of 

production if necessary. 

Traceability. Harvested kiwi fruit must be placed in field cartons or containers that are marked 

to show the official registration number of the production site. The place of production where 

the kiwi were grown must remain identifiable when the fruit leaves the grove, at the 

packinghouse, and throughout the export process. 

Systems approach for Brevipalpus chilensis

All of the following measures are required for the systems approach for Brevipalpus chilensis. 

Production site registration

The production site where the fruit is grown must be registered with the NPPO of Chile. To 

register, the production site must provide Chile's NPPO with the following information: Grower, 

exporter, orchard, and production site name, region, township, province, locality, area planted, 

and approximate date of harvest. Registration must be renewed annually. 
6

Registration of production sites will allow trace back to the production site if pest problems are 

found on fruit shipped to the United States. Problem production sites can then be removed from 

the program until further mitigation measures have been taken to reduce pest populations.

Low prevalence production site certification

Between 1 and 30 days prior to harvest, random samples of fruit must be collected from each 

registered production site under the direction of Chile's NPPO. These samples must undergo a 

pest detection and evaluation method as follows: The fruit must be washed using a flushing 

method, placed in a 20 mesh sieve on top of a 200 mesh sieve, sprinkled with a liquid soap and 

water solution, washed with water at high pressure, and washed with water at low pressure. The 

process must then be repeated. The contents of the 200 mesh sieve must then be placed on a 

petri dish and analyzed for the presence of live Brevipalpus chilensis mites. If a single live B. 

chilensis mite is found, the production site will not qualify for certification as a low prevalence 

production site. Each production site may have only one opportunity per season to qualify as a 

low prevalence production site, and certification of low prevalence will be valid for one harvest 

season only. The NPPO of Chile will present a list of certified production sites to APHIS. 

Production site low prevalence certification will identify problem production sites and prevent 

shipment of fruit with Brevipalpus chilensis mites from these sites. This mite sampling has been 

tested in Chile and found to be successful in identifying production areas of grapes with high and 

low populations of mites (Servicio Agricola y Ganadero, 2002; 2007).

Post-harvest processing. 

After harvest all damaged or diseased fruits must be culled at the packinghouse and must be 

packed into new, clean boxes, crates or other packing materials. Fruit must be inspected in Chile

at an APHIS-approved inspection site under the direction of APHIS inspectors in coordination 

with SAG, following any post-harvest processing. 

Fruit presented for inspection must be identified in the shipping documents accompanying each 

lot of fruit to specify the production site or sites in which the fruit was produced, and the packing 

shed or sheds in which the fruit was processed. This identification must be maintained until the 

fruit is released for entry into the United States.

The fruit must be inspected in Chile at an APHIS-approved inspection site under the direction of 

APHIS inspectors in coordination with the NPPO of Chile after the post-harvest processing. A 

biometric sample will be drawn and examined from each consignment of fruit, which may 

represent multiple grower lots. The fruit from these boxes must also be visually inspected for 

quarantine pests. A portion of the fruit must be washed with soapy water and the collected 

filtrate must be microscopically examined for B. chilensis. Consignments with mites will be 

rejected from the systems approach, but may still be exported to the United States with required

fumigation with methyl bromide. 

Post harvest processing such as culling damaged fruit and sampling for mites will remove fruit 
7

that may contain pests. Culling is a standard procedure to produce quality fruit without pests.

Phytosanitary certificate.

Each consignment of fruit must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the 

NPPO of Chile that contains an additional declaration stating that “the fruit in the consignment 

was inspected and found free of Brevipalpus chilensis based on field and packinghouse 

inspections”.

Requiring a phytosanitary certificate ensures that the NPPO has inspected the fruit and certified 

that it meets the conditions for export to the United States.

Efficacy of Risk Management Measures

There are several measures available for mitigating the pests of concern from fresh kiwi fruit 

from Chile. The measures chosen for risk management on fresh kiwi from Chile are summarized 

in Table 3. Table 4 shows a summary of the systems approach used to mitigate for the mite, 

Brevipalpus chilensis.

Table 3. Summary of risk management requirements for kiwi fruit from Chile.

Measure(s) Pests Efficacy

Monitoring and 

Oversight

Brevipalpus chilensis but 

must be used in 

conjunction with the 

systems approach.

These measures are standard for many export 

programs and assist in maintaining quality of the 

program.

Registered Places of 

Production 

Brevipalpus chilensis but 

must be used in 

conjunction with the 

systems approach.

Places of production are registered to effectively 

maintain quality control and traceback.

Traceability Brevipalpus chilensis but 

must be used in 

conjunction with the 

systems approach.

Traceback is effective at removing problem places of 

production from the systems approach.

Systems Approach Brevipalpus chilensis Measures listed have been effective in the pilot 

project eliminating B. chilensis from consignments of 

Chilean grapes (Servicio Agricola y Ganadero, 2002; 

2007).

Table 4. Summary of systems approach used for the mite Brevipalpus chilensis

Measure(s) Efficacy

Production Site Registration Registration of production sites is required on pre-clearance 

programs to manage production site requirements and control access 

to the program to only qualified sites. Commercially grown 

shipments from registered production sites use good agricultural 

practices to reduce or eliminate pests (IPPC, 2005). APHIS pest 

interception database indicates that commercial shipments are much 

less likely to have pest interceptions than non-commercial shipments 
8

or passenger baggage. Production site registration is part of 

traceability that allows track back to production sites if any actionable 

pests are found by inspection at the port of arrival to the United 

States. Production sites with actionable pests can be removed from 

the program.

Low prevalence production site 

certification

Between 1 and 30 days prior to harvest, random samples of fruit must 

be collected from each registered production site under the direction

of Chile's NPPO. These samples must undergo a pest detection and 

evaluation method as follows: The fruit must be washed using a 

flushing method, placed in a 20 mesh sieve on top of a 200 mesh 

sieve, sprinkled with a liquid soap and water solution, washed with 

water at high pressure, and washed with water at low pressure. The 

process must then be repeated. The contents of the 200 mesh sieve 

must then be placed on a petri dish and analyzed for the presence of 

live Brevipalpus chilensis mites. If a single live B. chilensis mite is 

found, the production site will not qualify for certification as a low 

prevalence production site. The soapy water and rinse cause many 

of the mites to be washed from the fruit into the rinsate. Sampling 

fruit using a wash and a sieve concentrates the mites into a small 

area where they can be easily seen by a low power microscope. This 

procedure has been effectively used as part of a pilot program for 

Chilean grapes (Servicio Agricola y Ganadero, 2002; 2007).

Postharvest Processing After harvest and before packing, a biometric sample from each 

consignment must be selected by SAG. The fruit from these boxes 

must be visually inspected for quarantine pests. A portion of the fruit 

must be washed with soapy water and the collected filtrate must be 

microscopically examined for B. chilensis. The soapy water and rinse 

cause many of the mites to be washed from the fruit into the rinsate. 

Sampling fruit using a wash and a sieve concentrates the mites into a 

small area where they can be easily seen by a low power microscope. 

This procedure has been effectively used as part of a pilot program 

for Chilean grapes (Servicio Agricola y Ganadero; 2002, 2007).

Phytosanitary certification Requiring a phytosanitary certificate requires the NPPO to inspect the 

fresh kiwi fruits for pests.

Phytosanitary Inspection at port 

of entry

Inspections are recognized as an important part of a pest 

management program (Kahn and Mathur 1999). Trained inspectors 

can recognize infestations of mites and the damage they cause to the 

fruits which would allow detection of these pests in some cases 

(CABI, 2006; USDA, 1982; USDA, 2004; Whittle, 1986) 

Summary

APHIS concludes that shipments of fresh kiwi fruit that originate from Chile may be imported 

safely to the United States without the risk of introducing Brevipalpus chilensis using a 

combination of the mitigations listed above. This systems approach has been used since 1998, 

along with methyl bromide fumigation to import kiwi fruit from Chile. The number of pests 

intercepted since 1998 in permit cargo of commercial kiwi from Chile has been very low; only 

about 18 pests have been intercepted on Chilean kiwi. Some of the interceptions were in Chile 

by APHIS preclearance personnel, other interceptions of mites post methyl bromide treatment 

prompted revision of the treatment. There is only one actual interception otherwise, a thrips 

species. This systems approach has also been effective for exporting Chilean citrus that are free 

of Brevipalpus chilensis mites into the United States (USDA; 2002, 2006). 
9

Recommendations

APHIS concludes that shipments of fresh kiwi fruit that originate from Chile may be imported 

safely to the United States without the risk of introducing Brevipalpus chilensis using a 

combination of the mitigations listed above. APHIS proposes to include the systems approach 

for Chilean kiwi fruit in the FAVIR and Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Import Manual since the 

fruit has been actually entering the United States using this system since 1998. (FAVIR has been 

recently updated to show the correct entry status for Chilean kiwi fruit under a systems 

approach.)

________________________________________________________________________

_X_ APPROVED

___ DISAPPROVED

__Walter P. Gould__________ ___ October, 15, 2013_____

Signature (name) Date 

5. References

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Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN. 213 pp.

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10

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