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USDA ends ban on Florida citrus shipments

Staff file photo by JASMINA MEYER

The ban covered fruit shipped as gifts or fresh oranges, grapefruit and tangerines sent to retail markets in the citrus growing areas.

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 22, 2009

Updated: 10/22/2009 02:24 pm

TAMPA - A federal decision effective today will open markets in five states and five U.S. territories for fresh Florida citrus that were placed off limits three years ago because of fears shipments would spread canker.

Before the U.S. Department of Agriculture imposed the quarantine, Florida growers shipped 1.2 million cartons of fresh citrus to the affected areas, said Andrew Meadows, spokesman for Florida Citrus Mutual.

Each carton has 40 pounds of citrus.

That amounts to about 3 percent of the fresh fruit shipments that left the state during the 2008-09 growing season. Fresh fruit accounts for about 5 percent of Florida's citrus crop.

"This is a big boost for our fresh fruit market," Meadows said.

The ban covered fruit shipped as gifts or fresh oranges, grapefruit and tangerines sent to retail markets in the citrus growing areas.

Lifting the ban opens Arizona, California, Louisiana, Texas, Hawaii, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands to fresh fruit shipments.

Research since the ban was imposed revealed that properly sanitized fruit will not spread the canker bacteria. The Florida citrus industry lobbied heavily for the USDA to lift its quarantine once the research was verified, Meadows said.

Citrus canker is not harmful to people or animals but affects all varieties of citrus trees, from sour oranges to tangerines. The bacteria create brown lesions on leaves and fruit. The bacteria sap a tree's health, and eventually the tree stops producing fruit.

State and federal agriculture agencies spent 10 years battling the latest outbreak of citrus canker to hit Florida. The effort destroyed 16 million citrus trees from groves to backyards.

In 2006, the Food and Drug Administration stopped funding for the eradication effort after the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 spread canker across Florida, instead limiting the shipment of fresh fruit.

Canker first appeared in Florida in 1910, was wiped out in 1933, showed up again in 1986 and was considered eradicated in 1994 before appearing once more in 1995.

Meadows said fruit shipped from Florida needs to have a certification that it was properly disinfected by a packing house. That would apply to residents wanting to send fruit outside Florida. Some packing houses provide that service for residents, he said.

Reporter Neil Johnson can be reached at (813) 259-7731.

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