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

## Commodity Import Evaluation Document Count ry of Origin : Japan Date : July 29 , 2009 Commodity: F resh a pple fruit ( all varieties) Scientific name: Malus domestica Borkh Common nam e : Apple Background Apple s ( Malus domestica ) of the Fuji variety are currentl y admissible from Japan (USDA - APHIS, 2008b ) into the Uni ted S tates under the p rovisions of 7 CFR 319.56 - 27 . Thi s include s mandatory

cold treatment followed by fumigation with methyl bromide as provided in 7 CFR 305 , and then , inspection of treated fruit by an APHI S inspector during preclearance inspections pri or to export . The Japanese M inistry of A griculture, F orestry and F isheries (MAFF) has requested that APHI S consider allowing all varieties of Malus domestica apples f rom Japan (Bessho, 2007) into the United States under the same conditions as those require d for the Fuji variety apples . History : A review of APHIS pest interception data covering the 14 ye ars (1994 - 2008) of import s has reveal ed no interception s of quarantine significant pests and diseases of concern on commercial shipments of Fuji apples from Japan (AQAS - PestID 2008). Thus the mandatory

cold treatment followed by fumigation with methyl bromide and then inspection by

an APHI S inspector during preclearance of the commodity have been effective measures to mitigate pest risk at origin. APHI S s ite visits to export production areas in Japan have not reveal ed any concern s about the efficacy

of the systems approach currently in place for allowing Fuji apples2

from Japan into the United States (USDA - APHIS, 2004; USDA - APHI S, 2006a; USDA APHI S, 2006b; USDA - APHI S, 2008a) . Pest s of Concern: The 1994 decision sheet for Fuji apples from Japan (USDA - APHIS, 1994) listed the following seven pests of concern, three insects , two mites and two diseases . Insects:  Adoxophyes orana Fischer von Röeslerstamm , (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) s ummer fruit tortrix  Carposina sasakii Matsumura ( =Carposina niponensis Walsingham), (Lepidoptera: Carposinidae) p each fruit moth  Conogethes punctiferalis, (Lepidoptera: P yr alidae) Yello w peach moth Mites:  Tetranych us kanzawai Kishida , (Acari: Tetranyc hidae) Kanzawa spider mite,  Tetranychus viennensis (Zacher) , (Acari: Tetranychidae) Hawthorn spider mite Diseases:  Gymnosporangium yamadae Miyabe ex G. Yamada, (Uredinales: Pucciniaceae) Japanese Apple R ust  Monilinia fructigena Honey ex Whetzel, (Helotiales: Sclerotiniaceae) b rown rot . Per APHIS regulations 7 CFR 319.56 - 27, the following measures are currently required for importing Fuji variety apples from Japan . 1. Cold treatment and fumigation. All approved apples must be cold treated for a minimum of 40 days at a pulp temperature of 1.1  C (34  F.) or less. Following the 40 day s of cold storage the apple shipment will be held in an approved facility until all core temperatures are sufficient for T109a fumigation treatment . Apples are fumigated with methyl bromide in approved facilities, for 2 hours, using treatments T109a - 1, or T109 a - 2, depending on whether plastic or cardboard cartons are used for packing (USDA APHI S, 2008c ). 2. Pre clearance i nspection by an APHIS and MAFF inspector. All apples imported into the United States must be accompanied with a phy tosanitary certificate issued by

MAFF . 3. All shipments are subject to further inspection at port of entry . Subjecting commodities as apples to cold treatment for a definite period of time reduces the temperature at the core of the fruit and subsequently causes mortality to any internal3

pests that may

be present in the fruit. Fumigating the fruit after the cold treatment kills any remaining surface pests . This combination treatment T 109a is an APHIS approved Probit 9 level (high mortality) treatment for the targeted insect pests. The effectiveness of the treatment is further evidenced by the lack of pest interceptions for the past 14 years (AQAS - PestID 2008). Though apple varieties may vary in their color, texture and other morphological features , the pest complex associated with them remains essentially the same and therefore we believe that the treatment currentl y in use for Fuji apples will be effective for the target pests on all other varieties. Additional Measures: In addition to the requirements listed in 7 CFR 319.56 - 27, other measures practiced b y Japan as standard production practices include: Registration of orchards : Apple orchards designated for export are to be registered, inspected and certified by MAFF . All apples must be bagged during the growing season, and free of pests and/or sy mptoms of brown rot and /or rust diseases. Safeguards: From April

– November 30, c onsignments must be safegu arde d after export inspections are completed against reinfestation from pests. These measures are included in the preclearance workplan for export of Fuji apples from Japan to the United States (USDA - APHIS, 2000). Discussion: Registration and inspection of apple orchards b y MAFF, and bagging of all apples (as part of standard production practices) further ensures that quarantine pests of concern will not follow the pathway

(Kitigawa et al., 1992). Bagging apples specifically excludes high risk pests like L epidoptera larvae (Bessin and Hartman, 2007; Love, 2002). Inspection of packed fruit at the packing house by MAFF and oversight inspection by APHI S during preclearance program activities reduce the probability that pests will follow the pathway

of fresh a

pples. Finall y, a mandatory cold treatment followed b y fumigation with methylbromide as provided in 7 CFR 305, which has been determined to be efficacious against a large numbers of pests, provides further security against the pests of concern (APHIS, 20 08c). Cultural practices and integrated pest control practiced in Japan reduce apple pest populations to very low levels (Rieselman, 2009). Varietal differences to quarantine treatment are considered to be non - significant b y APHI S (Krissoff et al., 1997). Consequently , APHI S PPQ considers the risk of introduction of insects and diseases through the pathway of all varieties of fresh apples to be very low under the s ys tems approach conditions presentl y in place for Fuji apples.4 Conclusion The history

o f the Preclearance Program in Japan indicates that n o quarantine pests on commercial cargo of Fuji apples have been intercepted /reported/identified at U . S . ports of entry from 19 9 4 to present, and no pests of concern have been reported from the pre clearan ce program in Japan . APHI S PPQ considers the pest list on other Malus domestica apple varieties would not be significantly different from that of Fuji variety apples and that the measures currently in place for Fuji apples are also adequate to manage risks associated with all Malus domestica apple varieties from Japan. Mandatory cold treatment followed b y fumigation with methyl bromide as provided in 7 CFR 305, which has been determined to be efficacious against a large numbers of pests, provides further s ecurity against the pests of concern regardless of the variety (APHI S, 2008c; Krissoff et al., 1997). Therefore we recommend allowing the entry of additional Malus domestica apple varieties from currently approved areas in Japan to the United States under the provisions of 7 CFR 319.56 - 27. 

### X APPROVED

Conditions of Entry: 

### _____ DISAPPROVED

___________________________ _________________ Signature (name) Date Authors and Revi ewers Prepared by : Devaiah A. Muruvanda Walter Gould Patttanjalidal Bissoondial Reviewed by: Claudia Ferguson José R. Hernández Paul Gadh References: AQAS - PestID. 2008 . Agricultural Quarantine Activity Pest Interception Database. USDA - APHIS - PPQ. Las t access ed June 2008.5

Bessho , T. 2007. e - mail from MAFF (Japan) to Dr. Craig T. Fedchock r egarding termination of additional restrictions on Japan grown fresh apple varieties exported to the United States . Sept 28, 2007 . Bessin, R. and J. Hartman. 2007 . Bagging apples: Alternative pest management for hobbyists. 5 pp. Last accessed April 17, 2007. Kitigawa, H., K. Manabe and E.B. Esguerra. 1992. Bagging of fruit on the tree to control disease. Acta Horticulturae 321: 871 - 873. Krissoff, B., Calvin, L . and Gray , D. 1997. Barriers to Trade in Global Apple Markets . Fruit and Tree Nuts Situation and Outlook /FTS - 280/August 1997. Economic Research Service, USDA Love, K. 2002. Protective fruit wrapping. http://www.hawaiifruit.net/bag_report.htm . 13pp. L ast accessed July 21, 2008. Rieselman, D. Perfect to the core. http://www.magazine.uc.edu/0408/japaneseapples.htm 3pp. L a st accessed July

30, 2009. USDA - APHIS. 1994. Decision Sheet. Fuji apples allowed in US, subject to treatments and preclearance in Japan . Mar 16, 1994 ( see addendum to the 1988 assessment for Japanese Fuji apples ). USDA - APHIS. 2000. Work Plan for Japane se Apples to the United States. Official Revised date

– Jan 6, 2000. USDA - APHIS . 2004. Sutton , T.P . Trip Report

– Fuji Apple Pre - clearance. Oct 13 - 26, 2004, 3 pp. USDA - APHIS . 2006 a . Brown , R.M . Japan Apple Inspection and Treatment. Jan 8 - 26, 2006 , 3 pp . USDA - APHIS . 2006 b . Li ghtener , J . Trip report

– Fuji Apple Pre - clearance Japan , 2006. Commodity

pre - clearance TDY . Oct 16 - 21, 2006 , 4 pp . USDA - APHIS. 2008 a . Dooley , J . Trip Report

– Apple Pre - clearance Japan , 2008 . Commodity

pre - clearance TDY . Jan 6 - 23, 2008. 3pp. USDA - APHIS. 2008 b . eManual PPQ Fruit and Vegetables, JAPAN 06/2008 - 43, page 3 - 159 . Last access ed June 2008. USDA - APHIS. 2008 c . eTreatment Manual. Treatment Schedules T100 - Schedules for Fruit, Nuts, and Vegetable, 5 - 2 - 78 of 05 /2008 - 2 5.