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United States Department of Agriculture

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Chufle (Calathea macrosepala K. Schumm) 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 edible flowers of chufle (Calathea 

macrosepala K. Schumm) from El Salvador into the continental United States, 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). Subsequently, Guatemala submitted a request for market access in 

2011. The PRA included information for the genus Calathea in El Salvador and the neighboring 

countries of Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Belize, and Southern Mexico 

which covers part of the natural range of C. macrosepala.

The pest risk assessment document, Importation of Fresh Chufle, Calathea macrosepala K. 

Schumm. immature inflorescences into the Continental United States from El Salvador found 

four species of Lepidoptera that might follow the pathway of chufle from Central America

(USDA. 2008). The PRA included pests distributed in the entire Crotalaria growing region, 

which added pests known to be in Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, 

and Southern Mexico to those in El Salvador that will follow the pathway of fresh chufle. The 

four species of Lepidoptera are: Eurybia elvina (Stichel); Eurybia lycisca (Westwood); Eurybia 

patrona (Weymer); Eurybia unxia (Godmin and Salvin). The PRA determined the likelihood of 

introduction and consequences of introduction for these Lepidoptera species and found that the 

consequences of introduction were negligible because the pests were unsuited for the climates in 

the continental United States except in Southern Florida and there were no native Calathea spp. 

therefore the overall risk rating for these Lepidoptera was Low. Therefore no risk mitigations 

other than 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 chufle from Guatemala to be 

imported into the United States:

 Chufle must be imported as commercial shipments only.

 Each consignment of chufle must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by

NPPO of the exporting country stating that the chufle in the consignment has been 

inspected and is free of pests.

 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
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chufle from Central America. Only pests whose risk was rated low were identified by the pest 

risk assessment as following the pathway of fresh chufle. Lepidoptera larvae are external feeders

that leave frass and feeding damage and are easily detectible. Inspection is considered effective 

at finding external feeding pests and excluding infested shipments from entering commerce 

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

References:

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 Chufle, (Calathea macrosepala K. Schumm), from El 

Salvador into the Continental United States. Qualitative, Pathway-Initiated Pest Risk 

Assessment. USDA, APHIS, CPHST, PERAL, Raleigh, NC. 20 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.

Author

Walter P. Gould

Senior Risk Manager