At the announcement, Mr. Hoang Trung, Director of the Plant Protection Department said, after more than 5 years of negotiations, the US Department of Agriculture has officially announced to allow the import of fresh pomelos from Vietnam.
Thus, Vietnam’s fresh pomelo (citrus maxima) is the 7th fruit of Vietnam allowed to be imported into the United States after mango, longan, litchi, dragon fruit, rambutan and breast milk.
The United States has a large consumption demand for fruit, up to 12 million tons per year. The country’s domestic fresh fruit production can only meet 70% of the demand, the remaining 30% (equivalent to about 3.6 million tons) must be imported.
Meanwhile, the whole country has 105,400 hectares planted with pomelos, with an output of nearly 905,000 tons; with diverse pomelo varieties, typical for each region. Particularly, the Mekong Delta has about 32 thousand hectares with an output of about 369,000 tons… This is a huge space and opportunity for Vietnamese fruit in general and fresh pomelo in particular to approach the US market.
According to US regulations, the growing area and processing facility of fresh Vietnamese pomelos exported to the US must be registered with the Plant Protection Department and the US Animal and Plant Health Quarantine (APHIS). The pomelos must not be contaminated with the plant quarantine objects that the US is interested in; they have been irradiated and granted a phytosanitary certificate by the Plant Protection Department”, said Mr. Nguyen Quang Hieu, Head of International Cooperation Department and Communications, the Plant Protection Department said.
In addition, shipments of fresh pomelos exported to the United States must be irradiated with a minimum dose of 150 Gy, accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate.
Source: Vietnam Insider