Canada has taken an important step to resume exports of fresh potatoes from Prince Edward Island Province (PEI) to the United States, the Canadian Food Inspectorate said on Friday.
Canada unilaterally halted deliveries from the province in November after the potato wart fungus (Synchytrium endobioticum) was found on two farms in October, the first in 21 years.
The United States then banned all imports of fresh potatoes from the province and demanded that Canada take further measures to ensure that the disease is not exported.
One US request was for Canada to look for warts in seed potato fields. Seed potatoes are exported and the risk of infection would be greater if they had the wart.
The CFIA now conducted a national survey that found no warts found in seed potatoes in fields. This is information that Washington wanted.
"(This) was made available to the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on December 24th and was intended to provide the necessary security," says a statement from the CFIA.
"We don't expect this to result in an immediate change to the current ban," it added, saying Washington is looking for other information. This, according to the CFIA, could take months.
The United States Animal and Phytosanitary Inspection Service did not respond to a request for comment. Friday is a public holiday in the United States.
Potato wart can reduce yields, but it does not pose a threat to human health or food safety, says the CFIA.
Prince Edward Island grew about 20% of Canada's national crop in 2020. The harvest is valued at over $ 1 billion Canadian dollars ($ 781 million).
Source
Hansa Terminhandel GmbH