Comments solicited for importation of turmeric from Samoa into the U.S.

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The U.S Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has prepared a pest risk assessment (PRA) on the government of Samoa’s request for “market access for fresh rhizomes of turmeric” imported for consumption into the United States and its territories.

And the federal agency proposes that only commercially produced rhizomes of turmeric may be imported into the U.S, including the territories.

According to APHIS public documents, it was in March 2018 that the National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) of Samoa, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, “requested market access for fresh rhizomes of turmeric - Cucurma longa” imported for consumption into the U.S. and it’s territories.

The PRA, carried out in May this year, was to identify the pests of quarantine significance that could follow the pathway of the importation of fresh turmeric from Samoa.

Based on the PRA, a risk management document (RMD) was prepared to identify measures that could be applied to the fresh turmeric rhizome to mitigate the pest risk.

“The PRA determined that there were no pests associated with turmeric from Samoa that follow the pathway of fresh rhizomes of turmeric. The PRA analyzed two pests and found that neither follows the pathway of fresh rhizomes of turmeric,” according APHIS documents posted on the federal portal [www.regulations.gov].

According to the documents, APHIS proposes that fresh rhizomes of turmeric from Samoa may be imported into the U.S and its territories under the following conditions:

• Only commercially produced rhizomes of turmeric may be imported;

• APHIS will require that each consignment be inspected by the Samoan National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) — which must issue a Phytosanitary Certificate (PC) for each consignment stating that the rhizomes of turmeric are free of pests; and

• Each shipment is subject to inspection upon arrival in the United States.

“By restricting the importation of fresh rhizomes of turmeric to commercial consignments only, we will ensure that appropriate sanitation practices are in place to prevent the introduction of ‘Libnotes palaeta’, as well as contamination and hitchhiker pests, [as] discussed in the PRA,” the documents said. “APHIS has intercepted a live pest only once with Cucurma longa rhizomes in passenger baggage from Samoa. The pest was identified as a mite, Oribatida sp., and was non-actionable.”

Commercial consignments, according to APHIS, include turmeric that has been grown to high standards of quality, subjected to pest control, sorted for quality, subjected to culling, and post-harvest treatments to maintain quality.

Cultural, chemical, or mechanical means (e.g., field sanitation, pre-harvest application of pesticides, resistant cultivars) should be used to eliminate pests from fields or prevent fruit infestation/infection.

In accordance with federal regulations, the APHIS announced on Wednesday the availability of the PRA and RMD for public review and comment — on or before Dec. 27th. Also available for review is a description of the economic considerations associated with the importation of fresh turmeric rhizome from Samoa.

The economic effects assessment of the government of Samoa’s request found that such action is not expected to significantly impact the U.S. turmeric market or U.S. entities, according to APHIS.

Furthermore, turmeric grows in tropical climates, making only small portions of the U.S., in Hawaii and other U.S. island territories, suitable.

It also says that the USDA does not report the value of United States turmeric production, as it is not an economically significant crop. The Hawaii Department of Agriculture likewise does not list turmeric among its top 20 agricultural commodities produced in 2019.

The economic assessment concluded that the impact of this action will be minimal on the U.S. producers of turmeric within the United States. Domestic producers already represent a small share of the U.S. turmeric market, and Samoa produces a small share of the world’s turmeric.”

Comments can be submitted via federal portal [www.regulations.gov] and enter APHIS-2021-0034 in the Search field. Select the Documents tab, then select the Comment button in the list of documents.

Also send your comment to Docket No. APHIS-2021-0034, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, MD, 20737-1238.