The California Citrus Quality Council (CCQC) is contacting you to provide documents that will be needed to comply with the protocol for exports to China. The following documents describe what is needed to comply with the protocol including documentation of compliance.
Since Chinese regulators are requiring additional mitigation measures for Tulare County, there are two sets of documents. One set is for Tulare County only; the other set is for counties other than Tulare County.
The Tulare County documents should be used for Tulare County packing houses and fruit grown in Tulare County. The “other than Tulare County” documents are for packing houses and groves located outside of Tulare County. Please note that all fruit grown in Tulare County are subject to the Tulare County protocol. That means that packinghouses outside of Tulare County must meet the Tulare County protocol if they pack fruit from Tulare County. For Tulare Co. incubation assays, if additional identification is needed diseased fruit can be brought to the NAVEK lab.
Attached documents include:
- Standard Operating Procedures for growers – each grower who plans to ship fruit to China should sign the SOP document along with the packinghouse person who is responsible for grove compliance. Signed SOPs must be on file at packinghouses for review if asked by USDA/APHIS representatives.
- Affirmation Letter for Packinghouses – each packinghouse must sign the attached affirmation letter indicating that all packinghouses that ship fruit to China agree to comply with all of the measures in the China protocol. By signing the document, packinghouses affirm that they understand the protocol and will comply.
- China Phytophthora Monitoring Record – each lot that will be destined for export to China must be monitored for Phytophthora symptoms. Use of this document is not mandatory, but records must be kept on monitoring. This document is a template that can be changed to suit each individual grower or packinghouse. The format is not important, but the records must be maintained to be incompliance.
- Incubation Sampling Guide – This document provides a chart that tells packinghouses how many fruit to incubate by size of grove.
- Phytophthora Management Document (GAPs) – this document provides detailed information on how to control Phytophthora (Good Agricultural Practices) and monitor for Phytophthora symptoms and includes monitoring and sampling guidelines. An MRL table for fungicides used for controlling brown rot is also included.
Remember that a mandatory treatment of a registered copper fungicide must be applied following the product’s labeled instructions between October 15 and November 30 for citrus exports to China from California. This copper application can also be applied in mixtures with approved alternatives. Additional applications of copper or alternative fungicides will be based on environmental conditions. These disease forecasts will be made based on brown rot epidemiological models developed at the University of California, Riverside. CCQC and other citrus industry groups such as CCM and Sunkist will communicate any additional protective applications in early January.
Please review the attached documents and contact Jim Cranney by telephone at (530) 885-1894 or via e-mail at jcranney@ccqc.org if you have questions or need additional information.
