The following set of additional requirements were developed as part of a systems approach that are applicable only to pest mitigation strategy option 2.
Beginning at least 30 days before harvest began and continuing through the completion of harvest, all trees in the field where the papayas were grown were kept free of papayas that were one-half or more ripe (more than one-fourth of the shell surface yellow), and all culled and fallen fruits were buried, destroyed, or removed from the farm at least twice a week.
The papayas were held for 20 minutes in hot water at 48 °C (118.4 °F).
When packed, the papayas were less than one-half ripe (the shell surface was no more than one-fourth yellow, surrounded by light green), and appeared to be free of all injurious insect pests.
The papayas were safeguarded from exposure to fruit flies from harvest to export, including being packaged so as to prevent access by fruit flies and other injurious insect pests. The package containing the papayas does not contain any other fruit, including papayas not qualified for importation into the United States.
Beginning at least 1 year before harvest begins and continuing through the completion of harvest, fruit fly traps were maintained in the field where the papayas were grown. The traps were placed at a rate of 1 trap per hectare and were checked for fruit flies at least once weekly by plant health officials of the National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) of Guatemala. Fifty percent of the traps were of the McPhail type and 50 percent of the traps were of the Jackson type. The NPPO of Guatemala kept records of fruit fly finds for each trap, updated the records each time the traps were checked, and made the records available to APHIS inspectors upon request. The records were maintained for at least 1 year. If the average Jackson fruit fly trap catch was greater than seven Mediterranean fruit flies (Ceratitis capitata) (Medfly) per trap per week, measures were taken to control the Medfly population in the production area. If the average Jackson fruit fly trap catch exceeds 14 Medflies per trap per week, importations of papayas from that production area must be halted until the rate of capture drops to an average of 7 or fewer Medflies per trap per week.
All activities described in this section were carried out under the supervision and direction of plant health officials of the NPPO of Guatemala.
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