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



## Risk Managem **ent Document**



## Importation of Fresh Fruit of Andean Blackberry ( **Rubus glaucus**  **Benth .**  **) and Raspberry ( Rubus idaeus**  **L .**  **) into the Continental United States from Ecuador** 

**April 4**  **, 201 3** 

**Plant Healt h Programs (PHP)**  **Regulations, Permits and Manuals (RPM) Contact Person:**  **Claudia Ferguson Introduction** 

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHI S) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prepared a pest risk assessment to examine p lant pest risks associated with the importation of fresh field

- grown fruit of Andean blackberry and raspberry

from the Ecuador to be imported into the continental United States (USDA, 2012)

. This risk management document was prepared by APHI S to provide risk management strategies for the importation of Andean blackberries ( Rubus glaucus Benth

. ) and raspberries ( Rubus idaeus L. ) from Ecuador following the development of a commodity

- based, pathway

- initiated risk anal ys is (PRA) that was conducted by the APHI S (USDA, 20 1 2 )

. The PRA found three quarantine pests that may follow the pathway of fresh Andean blackberry and raspberry fruit from Ecuador into the continental United States (USDA, 20 1 2 ) . The pest list include s two fruit flies and one Lepidoptera : **Ar thropods**  Anastrepha fraterculus Wiedemann (Diptera: Tephritidae) Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann (Diptera: Tephritidae) Copitarsia decolora Guenée (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) The PRA rated all three pests as **High** pest risk potential. Specific ph yt osanitary measures beyond port of entry

inspection are strongl y recommended for pests with **High** pest risk potentials, and may be necessary

for pests with **Medium** pest risk potential (USDA. 2002)

. **Risk Mitigation Measures**  F resh Andean blackberries and raspberries may be imported into the continental United States from Ecuador under the following systems approach : (1) The Andean blackberries and raspberries must be grown commerciall y in approved production sites registered with the National Plant Protection Organi zation (NPPO ) of Ecuador

. The NPPO of Ecuador must provide an operational workplan to APHI S that details the activities and responsibilities Ecuador’s NPPO will, subject to APHI S’ approval of the workplan, carry out to meet the requirements of the sy stem s approach

. APHI S reserves the right to require APHIS oversight visits in the event of pest interceptions or other problems. (2) Ecuador 's NPPO or their designate must conduct a fruit fl y trapping program for the detection of Anastrepha fraterculus at ea ch production site

. Traps for Anastrepha fraterculus with approved protein bait must be placed at each production site at a density of four traps per hectare, with a minimum of two traps per production site. Traps must be checked at least every 7 day s. Traps must be set and monitored beginning one month prior to harvest and continuing through the harvest season. (3 ) Capture of 0. 4 or more Anastrepha fraterculus per trap per week will require that productionsite to have to conduct weekl y bait sprays ap plied until Anastrepha fraterculus captures drop

below 0.4 fruit flies per trap per week. (4 ) Ecuador 's NPPO must maintain records of trap placement, checking of traps, and any Anastrepha fraterculus captures. The exporting country's NPPO must maintain an APHI S

approved quality control program to monitor or audit the trapping program. The trapping records must be maintained for APHIS' review for at least one year. (5 ) Ecuador 's NPPO is responsible for export certification, inspection, and issuance of phy tosanitary certificates (PC)

. Each consignment of Andean blackberries and/or raspberries must be accompanied b y a PC issued by the Ecuador’s NPPO bearing the additional declaration (AD) stating : “ Th e consignment was produced and prepared for export in accordance with the requirements of the bilateral operational workplan .” (6) If a single Ceratitis capitata or Anastrepha fraterculus or Copitarsia decolora is detected in a consignment, the consignment may not be exported to the continental United State s. If a single Ceratitis capitata or Anastrepha fraterculus is detected in a consignment for export, the registered production site will lose its ability to export Andean blackberries and raspberries to the continental United States until APHI S and the Ec uador’s NPPO mutually determine that risk mitigation is achieved. **Efficacy of**  **Risk M itigation**  **Measures** Currently the United States allows imports of blackberries and raspberries from Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama) enterable with inspection only and there have never been any interceptions of Tephritidae in commercial permit cargo (AQAS. 2013). Both Andean blackberries and raspberries are considered poor hosts to Anastrepha fraterculus and Ce ratitis capitata
. There are records for Ceratitis rubivora attacking Rubus spp., however this Medfly

relative, which is a specialist on berries , is only present in Africa (White & Elson

Harris, 1992). There are no primary scientific publications of Medfl y attacking raspberries, only secondary references with unverified host lists (USDA, 2012). Currentl y , APHI S does not require mitigations for Ceratitis capitata for raspeberries imported from countries with Medfly , for example: Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, France, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama (USDA, 2014 ). Therefore mitigations other than requiring commercial production and inspections are not justified. Anastrepha fraterculus does have a few records in the scientific literature of field infestation of for Andean blackberries (USDA

- ARS
. 2013 ) , and there are few APHIS interception records (AQAS

. 2013 )

. All of the literature or other host records for Anastrepha fraterculus are for Rubus glaucus or Rubus sp. There are no interception records for Rubus idaeus

. All of the APHI S records of interceptions (9 interceptions in Rubus sp. from 1984 to present) were in passenger baggage and none were in commercial cargo (AQAS

. 2013)

. With poor hosts, standard commercial practices are often a s ufficient mitigation for pests

. Because of the slightl y stronger host status for Anastrepha fraterculus in blackberries and raspberries, APHI S willrequire trapping and bait spray s to maintain low pest prevalence for this pest.

Blackberries and raspbe rries are enterable from Chile and Colombia in South America . They are enterable with only

inspection from Chile however Anastrepha fraterculus and Ceratitis capitata are not present in Chile. Blackberry and Raspberry

are currentl y enterable from Colombi a , but the fruit must be from outside of a quarantine area for A. fraterculus

. In the last ten years there have been no commercial shipments of b lackberries and raspberries from Colombia, because there are no areas recognized by the NPPO of Colombia and APHI S as free of Anastrepha fraterculus, as required by USDA

. Copitarsia decolora , a moth in the family Noctuidae, is poly

phagous and attacks many host plants. Eggs and larvae may be present on a number of imported commodities. Current APHI S policy is to allow inspection of commodities for this pest, if eggs or larvae are found on inspection at a port of entry , a methyl bromide fumigation for hitch hiking pests is sufficient to mitigate risk. The eggs and small larvae have little chance of completing th eir life cycle on harvested raspberries or blackberries. Larger larvae which might crawl off and pupate are conspicuous and would be easil y found upon inspection. The mitigations above will ensure that fruit fl y populations remain low, and low populati ons will present a negligible risk of infestation of commercial Andean blackberries and raspberries by Ceratitis capitata and/or Anastrepha fraterculus

. The required trapping will alert the Ecuador’s NPPO to populations of Anastrepha fraterculus in the production sites. The required bait spray s will suppress the populations of Anastrepha fraterculus and maintain low prevalence for this fruit fly . APHI S has no records of interceptions of Medfly in any blackberries or raspberries, even from countries where this pest is common. Bait spray s will suppress Ceratitis capitata in addition to Anastrepha fraterculus . Additional inspections of consignments by the Ecuador’s NPPO and at the U.S. port of entry will ensure that there will be no large external pests su ch as Copitarsia de colora on the Andean blackberries and raspberries. If Ceratitis capitata or Anastrepha fraterculus is detected in a consignment, the production site and potentially the entire program will be shut down by APHI S at least until an investi gation is completed and further mitigations have been applied. **Summary** There are several risk management measures available for the high

- risk pests identified in the PRA that will permit the importation of Andean blackberries and raspberries from Ecuador while satisfying the appropriate level of phy tosanitary protection for the continental United States. A sy stems approach utilizing low pest prevalence for the fruit flies Ceratitis capitata and Anastrepha fraterculus, as described above , employinga comb ination of measures acting independentl y also mitigates risk and provides an acceptable level of phy tosanitary protection (IPPC
. 1996; 1999 ; 2002 )

. Areas of low p est prevalence as well as packinghouse measures and port of entry

inspections provide the lev el of ph yt osanitary security required by

the United States.**Au thors** 

Walter Gould, Senior Risk Manager APHI S

- PPQ Jos é R. Hern ández, Senior Risk Manager APHI S

- PPQ
**References** AQAS . 201 3
. Agricultural Quarantine Activity System Pest Interception Data base. USDA

APHI S

- PPQ. Last access ed March 2013

. IPPC. 1996. Requirements for the establishment of pest free areas. International Standards for Phy tosanitary Measures No. 4. Rome: Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. IPPC. 1999. Requirements for the establishment of pest free places of production and pest free production sites. International Standards for Phy tosanitary Measures No. 10. Rome: Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. IPPC. 2002. The use of integrated measures in a systems approach for pest risk management. International Standards for Phy tosanitary Measures No. 14. Rome: Secretariat of the Internat ional Plant Protection Convention, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. USDA . 20 1 2
. Importation of Fresh Fruit of Andean Blackberry ( Rubus glaucus Benth

. ) and Raspberry

( Rubus idaeus Li nnaeus) into the Continental United States from Ecuador

. A Qualitative, Pathway

- Initiated Risk Analy sis. June 2 1 , 20 1 2
. Plant Epidemiology and Risk Analy sis Laboratory , Center for Plant Health Science and Technology , Plant Protection and Quarantine, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. 55 pp. USDA. 201 4. Fruit and vegetables import requirements database (FAVIR). https://epermits.aphis.usda.gov/manual/index.cfm?NEW=1&COMMOD_ID=113&ACTI ON=commSumm CountryP accessed Mar. 2014. USDA

- ARS. 2013. Fruit Fly Host Plant Database. Fruit Fl y (Diptera: Tephritidae) Databases: Sy stematic Entomology

L aboratory , USDA

- ARS and Department of Entomology , National Museum of Natural History , Smithsonian Institution. http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov:8080/diptera/Tephritidae/TephIntro.html White, I .M. and M.M. Elson

- Harris. 1992. Fruit flies of economic significance: Their identification and bionomics. CABI. Wallingford UK. 601 pp.