COM 0931.020 1996-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 The USDA under special permits allowed test shipments to the Mainland while the proposed regulation was under review. These shipments were sent to Chicago, where they were irradiated and released to supermarkets for sale. The following lessons were learned from that experience: (1) there were no problems with consumer acceptance even though the fruit was labeled as having been irradiated, (2) fruit quality after treatment was excellent and, (3) maximum usefulness of the regulation for farmers in Hawaii will only be realized if an irradiation facility is constructed in Hawaii. Shipping fruits from Hawaii to northern Mainland cities to be irradiated before shipping to market outlets reduces or eliminates profits from loss of shelflife and fruit quality caused by increased shipping time and handling. Also, irradiation facilities presently available for use on the Mainland are not designed to be used efficiently for the quarantine treatment of fresh fruits. The ARS position is not to replace heat or cold or any other treatment with irradiation, but to add another tool to the toolbox of farmers in Hawaii. Much has been said in recent weeks in the county, the State, and in the local press about how heat treatments are available to farmers in Hawaii and that an irradiation treatment is simply not needed. Vapor heat and forced hot-air treatments have worked well for exporting papaya to the Mainland and Japan. A forced hot-air treatment against fruit flies in rambutan is being studied by USDA and may be adopted soon. The forced hot-air treatment can, however, cause serious damage to rambutan depending on the physiological condition of the fruit. Aside from papaya and rambutan, it is not clear that heat treatments will be certified for any additional types of fruit in the foreseeable future. The reasons for this are two-fold: (1) heat causes unacceptable damage to many types of fruit, and (2) most species of fruit in Hawaii have multiple quarantine pests. For example, mangos can be infested by both fruit flies and the mango seed weevil, and lychee may be infested by both fruit flies and two species of Cryptophlebia moths (false codling moth). Although fruit flies are the best known pests of quarantine importance, there are many thrips, aphids, scale, beetle, and lepidopterous pests that are quarantined from the Mainland that are commonly found on many fruits, vegetables, and ornamentals. Irradiation is likely to be effective against most if not all of these pest insects, whereas heat treatments will not be effective for many of them simply because the fruits, vegetables, or ornamentals cannot tolerate the necessary increased treatment levels without loss of quality. In addition to the three species of fruit, which have USDA-approved irradiation quarantine treatments, USDA is moving quickly to approve five more: abiu, atemoya, longan, sapodilla, and rambutan. A request for the approval of a mango irradiation treatment will be submitted soon. ARS has placed high priority on determining irradiation dosage levels for non-fruit fly quarantine pests of fruits, vegetables, and ornamentals. In the near future, nine different fruits treated with irradiation can be marketed on the Mainland, eight of these commodities are currently prohibited except with an irradiation treatment.