Efforts are underway to ensure that Peruvian asparagus can avoid fumigation when entering the US in exchange for mitigation measures at source

A long-held desire for the Peruvian asparagus export sector is on the way to becoming a reality. The head of the National Agrarian Health Service (Senasa), Vilma Gutarra, and her technical team met with a delegation from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA APHIS), in order to coordinate strategic actions that, through the systems approach, improve the conditions of access of Peruvian asparagus to the US market. In this regard, the Peruvian Institute of Asparagus and Vegetables (IPEH), highlighted that this meeting has been important for the implementation and validation of the systems approach by the US authorities, which will allow Peruvian asparagus to have a longer post-harvest life and reduce operating costs for export. “Currently, the fumigation treatment exposes the asparagus to high temperatures, breaking the cold chain and shortening its post-harvest life,” she added. For IPEH, this proposed systems ...