California to allow Citrus Fruit Shipped outside Quarantine Area

The California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA)’s Plant Health and Prevention Services announced movement of citrus fruit from a HLB Quarantine Area Master QC Permit has been revised to allow bulk citrus fruit grown in a Huanglongbing (HLB) quarantine area to be shipped for final packing at a packer/processor outside of the quarantine area, or in a non-contiguous HLB quarantine area.

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All growers, transporters, and packers involved must be operating under a signed compliance agreement with the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) / HLB Program.

Growers in an HLB quarantine sending their fruit for packing outside of the quarantine area or in a non-contiguous HLB quarantine area will be required to meet either option (1) or both options (2) and (3) below to achieve the pest risk mitigation performance standard:

  1. The fruit must be run through a wet wash, which includes thoroughly wetting the fruit by spraying/dunking/drenching with water and brushing/cleaning. If the wet wash option is not chosen, both of the following mitigations must be used:
  2. The grove must be treated with a CDFA agreed upon pre-harvest product effective against psyllids within 14 days of harvest.
  3. Fruit must be field cleaned and be practically free from all stems, leaves, and other extraneous host material prior to leaving the origin grove for packing/processing.

Packers/processors located outside of the HLB quarantine area that receives citrus fruit grown in an HLB quarantine area shall give priority to such shipments for receiving, unloading, and cleaning. The requirements for growers located within an HLB quarantine area sending citrus fruit for final packing within the same contiguous quarantine area have not changed. These growers only need to comply with option (2) or (3) listed above.

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