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Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service logo Fruits and Vegetables Import Requirements (FAVIR)
Effective October 1, 2022 the Fruits and Vegetables Import Requirements (FAVIR) database has been replaced by the Agricultural Commodity Import Requirements database at https://acir.aphis.usda.gov/s/

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Glossary

Above-ground parts—All parts of a plant growing above ground.

All plant parts—All above and below ground plant parts.

Aril (false fruit)—The fleshy and usually brightly colored cover of some seeds that develops from the ovule stalk and partially or entirely envelopes the seed.  Fruits that have edible arils include genip, jackfruit, longan, lychee, mangosteen, passion fruit, pomegranate, and tamarind. 

Bean—Any of several plants of the genus Phaseolus or related plants (e.g., Vigna unguiculata, V. radiata, and Glycine max) bearing similar pods or seed.

Blanch—As a verb, blanch means to take the color out of a vegetable and mike it white by excluding light through burial, boarding, or wrapping the leaves, stem, or shoot.  As an adjective, blanch means to be blanched.

Blossom—A flower or cluster of flowers.

Bulb—A mass of overlapping membranous or fleshy leaves on a short stem base enclosing one or more buds that may develop under suitable conditions into new plants and constituting the resting stage of many plants, such as the onion.  NOTE ON ALLIUMS:  In the genus Allium, the bulbs may range from large, as in the onion, to poorly developed, as in the leek.  From countries outside of North and South America and their adjacent islands (the Western Hemisphere), only the bulbs of alliums without their tops are admissible.  However, the entire leek plant is admissible from Belgium and the Netherlands.  The above ground portions of Allium spp. are inadmissible because of rusts and pests like the leek moth.  Thus, onions, garlic, leeks, and other onion relatives (Allium spp.) are admissible from countries outside the Western Hemisphere only if the above ground portion of the plant is removed.

Bulk consignment—Loose material in carriers, bulk containers, or in storage.

Calyx—The outer whorl of floral envelopes, composed of separate or united sepals.

Canned—Category of processing whereby the article is sealed in containers and is sterilized.

Certificate—Authorization to move a regulated item, most often indicated by stamping "Released" or "Treated and Released" on documents or containers.

Citrus—When used in the Reference, citrus includes the following species:  Citrus aurantiifolia (sour key lime, Mexican lime), C. aurantium (sour orange); C. grandis (pummelo, shaddock); C. latifolia (Persian lime, Tahiti lime); C. limettoides (sweet lime); C. limon (lemon); C. medica (ethrog); C. paradisi (grapefruit, pomelo); C. reticulata cv. (includes calomondin king, clementine, mandarin, satsuma, and tangerine).  From the West Indies and Puerto Rico also includes Fortunella spp. (kumquat and limequat).

Clove—One of the small bulbs or segments (as in garlic) developed in the axils of the scales of the larger bulb.

Cluster of fruit—Fruit including the leaves, peduncles (stem that connects individual fruit to the main stem), and rachises (main stem of the cluster of fruit).

Cold treatment—Subjecting of fruits and vegetables to cold temperature for a prescribed amount of time to eliminate plant pests.  Schedules of cold treatment, temperature, and times are listed in the Treatment Manual under the T100 schedules for specific pests.

Commercial consignment—A commercial lot of fruits or vegetables that an inspector identifies as having been imported for sale and distribution.  Such identification will be based on a variety of indicators including, but not limited to:  Quantity of produce, type of packaging, identification of grower or packing house on the packaging, and documents consigning the fruits or vegetables to a wholesaler or retailer.

Commingle—Mixing of articles of more than one kind in the same container or conveyance such that pests could move or be transferred from one kind of article to the other.

Compliance agreement—Written understanding in which a party agrees to comply with PPQ procedures and requirements.

Contaminants—Undesirable impurity (example—soil, animal manure, and weed seed).

Continental United States—The 48 contiguous states in North America including Alaska and the District of Columbia. Also known as CONUS.

Cooked—Category of processing whereby the article is prepared for eating by a heating process (example—baking, broiling, parching, or roasting) to the extent that the pest risk is eliminated.

Corm—Undergound stem, such as that of the taro, similar to a bulb but without scales.  A solid swollen part of a stem, usually subterranean, as the so-called "bulb" of Crocus and Gladiolus.

Corn, green—Fresh, edible corn-on-the-cob.

Corn, shelled—Dried individual kernel which has been removed from the cob; generally used as an animal feed.

Crating—Rigid shipping structure that consists of a wood frame of which the size and shape are determined by the article to be shipped.

Cured—Category of processing whereby a product is preserved (example—aging, candying, drying, heating, smoking, soaking in a salt, sugar, oil, or vinegar solution).

Decorative fruit—Fruit intended to be used for ornamental purposes and not to be eaten or grown.

DIsease—Interaction between a pathogen and the plant resulting in damage to the plant.  The damage caused is referred to as a symptom.

Dried—Cate
gory of processing whereby water is removed or reduced by exposure to heat or air.

Dry bulb—A bulb with a dry parchment-like skin.

Dunnage—Loose packaging material, generally wood, protecting a ship's cargo from damage during transport.

Ear—Fruit including the leaf, rachis, peduncle, pistillate flowers, and silks in the case of corn.

Edible shoot, free of leaves or roots—The main leaf-bearing and flower-bearing axis (stem) of a plant.

Endemic—Common and/or widespread in a particular place.

Flower—An axis bearing one or more pistils or one or more stamens or both.  When only the former, it is a pistillate (female) flower; when only the latter, a staminate (male) flower; when both, a perfect (bisexual or hermaphroditic) flower.  When a perfect flower is surounded by a perianth representing two floral envelopes (the inner envelope the corolla, the outer the calyx), it is a complete flower.

Free from rot—No more than two percent by weight of the regulated articles in a lot show visual evidence of fungal fructification or growth of other microorganisms that cause decay and the breakdown of cell walls in the regulated articles.

Fresh fruits and vegetables—A commodity class for fresh parts of plants intended for consumption or processing and not for planting.  For the purposes of this database, this definition includes fresh herbs.

Frozen fruits and vegetables—Any variety of raw fruit or vegetable preserved by commercially acceptable freezing methods in such a way that the commodity remains at -6.7 °C (20 °F) or below for at least 48 hours prior to release.

Fructification—Spore-bearing structure of a fungus.

Fruit—Ripened ovary of a seed-bearing plant (examples commonly encountered in the florist trade:  peppers (Capsicum spp.) and holly branches (Ilex spp.) with berries).

Gall—A large swelling on plant tissues caused by the invasion of parasites, such as fungi or bacteria, following puncture by an insect; insect oviposit and larvae of insects are found in galls.

Geographical abbreviations—Terms that describe portions of the United States and its territories where fruits and vegetables are admissible.

ALL—All ports of entry and areas of coverage where CBP Agriculture Specialists are stationed. This includes all 50 states, including the entire state of Hawaii, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
NA (North Atlantic)—Atlantic ports north of and including Baltimore; ports on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway; Canadian border ports east of and including North Dakota, Washington, DC (including Dulles) for air consignments.
NP (Northern Pacific)—Pacific ports north of California including Alaska, Canadian border ports west of and including Montana, except Hawaii.
SAG (South Atlantic and Gulf)—Atlantic ports south of Baltimore, U.S. Gulf of Mexico ports, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
PR (Puerto Rico)—Also included under SAG.
VI (U.S. Virgin Islands)—St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John (also included under SAG).
MB—U.S. land border ports on the Mexican border.
HAWAII—The entire State of Hawaii.
GUAM—The U.S. territory of Guam.
CNMI—The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Hand of fruit—A cluster of fruit that resembles a hand, such as a hand of bananas.

Heart of Palm (Palm Heart)—The edible, white, inner portion of the stem and growing bud of palm trees.  If any green tissue is present, it is inadmissible.

Hitchhiking pest—Insects or other pests which are not directly associated with their host material and which move with cargo, in baggage, or at large in carriers.

Hull—As a noun, hull means the dry outer covering of a fruit, seed, or nut; the husk.  As a verb, hull means to remove the hull or hulls of fruit, seed, or nuts.

Husk—As a noun, husk means the membranous or green outer envelope of many fruits and seed, as of an ear of corn or a nut.  As a verb, husk means to remove the husk or husks from.

Immature flower head—Immature inflorescence.

Inflorescence—1.)  The mode of arrangement of the flowers on a plant; 2.)  The flowering part of a plant; 3.)  The coming into flower of a plant. 

Inspectional unit—The portion of a consignment used to determine what size sample should be inspected.  Also, quarantine action is taken on the inspectional unit.

Inspector—Any individual authorized by the Administrator of APHIS or the Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security, to enforce the regulations in 7CFR 319.56.

Intergeneric—Existing or occurring between genera (hybridization).

In transit cold treatment—Cold treatment performed aboard an approved carrier at a temperature and duration that is specified for elimination of plant pests.

Japan pepper—See Szechuan peppercorn.

Kernel—The inner, usually edible seed of a nut or fruit stone.

Kola nut (also cola nut)—A large, fleshy, and bitter caffeine-containing tree seed (Cola spp.) that is approximately the size of a chestnut and is chewed as a condiment and stimulant; seed erroneously called nuts.

Leaf—An above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis.

Legume—A plant of the family Fabaceae characteristically bearing pods.

Lemon—The smooth-skinned lemon of commerce when listed as an approved fruit.

Limited permit—A document issued by an inspector to allow the interstate movement of regulated items to a specified destination.

Mandado—Articles of food (groceries) carried across the Mexican border and intended for local, personal consumption.

Mexican jumping bean—A seed of any of several Mexican shrubs of the genera Sebastiana or Sapium of the family Euphorbiaceae that "jumps" because of the movement of the contained larva of a small moth (Cydia dehaisiana).

Microgreen—A shoot of a standard salad plant (such as celery or arugula).

Noncommercial or Noncommercial consignment—A lot of fruits or vegetables that an inspector identifies as having been imported for personal use and not for sale.

Nut—A hard shelled, woody-textured, one-celled fruit that does not split open as an acorn, coconut, or macadamia nut.

Nut without husk—Nut, the fruit that does not include the husk (mesocarp and probably the ectocarp).

Oceania—The islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia (except Guam, Hawaii, and the Northern Mariana Islands) in the central and southern Pacific Ocean.

Packing material—A covering, stuffing, or holding apparatus used to protect, cushion, or brace goods during consignment (e.g., straw, plant litter, paper, vermiculite).

Pad—THE flattened fleshy stem of a cactus, such as certain varieties of prickly pear.

Pallet—A portable, wooden platform used for storing or moving cargo or freight.

Palm Heart—The edible, white, inner portion of the stem and growing bud of palm trees.  If any green tissue is present, it is inadmissible.

Pathogen—An organism that is capable of causing disease in a particular host or range of hosts.  It obtains its nutrients wholly or in part from another living organism (example—a microorganism such as a bacterium or fungus).

Pea—The edible fruit (pod) or edible seeds of some of the plants in the family Fabaceae.

Plant or portions of a plant—Leaves, twigs, or other portions of plants or plant litter or debris as distinguished from clean fruits, vegetables, herbs, or other commercial articles.

Pod—A structure that contains the seeds or flowers of a plant (e.g. seed pod, flower pod).

Preclearance—Inspection and/or treatment of commodities by or under the supervision of PPQ officers in foreign countries and U.S. offshore locations in accordance with PPQ approved phytosanitary requirements.

Precleared—Articles which are inspected and/or treated under PPQ supervision/approval at origin and are in compliance with PPQ regulations prior to U.S. arrival.

Processed—Modified by some form of manipulation beyond harvesting.

Pulse—Vegetables in the family Fabaceae (Leguminosae) that bear or produce edible pods or seeds, such as beans, chickpeas, cowpeas, lentils, peas, and vetches.

Puree—A fruit or vegetable reduced to a paste or thick liquid with a smooth texture.

Rhizome—A horizontal plant stem, growing beneath the surface, and usually covered with dormant buds, as in fresh ginger.

Root—That portion of the plant axis lacking nodes and leaves and usually found below the ground.

Sample—A portion that is representative of the whole; a specimen.

Sechuan button—The floral bud of Blainvillea acmella or Acmella paniculata.

Solid wood packing material—A category of wooden articles having a rigid shape for protecting cargo from damage (includes things like cases, crates, drums, dunnage, packing blocks, pallets, and skids).  Contrast with loose wood packing material.

Spear—Immature leaf and stem of asparagus.

Split—To divide from end to end with a sharp blow or cutting instrument.

Stalk—A nontechnical term for the more or less elongated support of any organ, as a petiole, peduncle, pedicel, filament, stipe; for example, celery stalk.

Stem—The main leaf-bearing and flower-bearing axis of a plant.

Stencil—An impression left on a surface after stenciling.

Stone fruit (drupe)—A fleshy fruit, such as a peach, plum, or cherry, usually having a single hard stone (pit) that encloses the seed.

Sugarcane chew—Short length of internodal, peeled sugarcane.

Szechuan peppercorn (also Japan pepper)—A dried fruit of the Rutaceous Zanthoxylum piperitum; used like black pepper in China and Japan.

Transit permit—A document that authorizes movement of articles from regulated areas to specified points where host plants do not grow and where the regulated material is handled, utilized, processed, treated, or consumed in such a manner as to eliminate pest risk; for example, movement of uncertified cotton products to northern markets.  Permits for such movement are issued on the basis that:  1) The articles will not be transshipped to nonapproved destinations, and 2) There will be conformity to the conditions of a compliance agreement or PPQ Transit Permit.

Treatment—A chemical or physical procedure used to kill pests; fumigation, cold treatment, hot water dip, application of fungicide, vapor heat.

Truffle—Any of various edible, underground fungi of the genus, Tuber.

Tuber—A short, thick, usually but not always subterranean stem or branch bearing buds or "eyes" and serving as a storage organ, as in the potato, Solanum tuberosum.

Unauthorized fruits and vegetables—Fresh fruits and vegetables which are not approved for entry into the United States.

U.S. returned fruits and vegetables—U.S. grown fruits and vegetables that have left the United States and are being presented for reentry into the United States.

Variety—A subdivision of a kind which is characterized by growth, fruit, seed, or other characteristics by which it can be differentiated from other sorts of the same kind (example—Marquis wheat, Kennebec Irish potato, Winesap apple, and Kentucky wonder pole bean).

West Indies—The foreign islands lying between North and South America, the Caribbean Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean, divided into the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles (including Hispaniola), and the Lesser Antilles (including the Leeward Islands, the Windward Islands, and the islands north of Venezuela).

White asparagus—The blanched shoots of asparagus when excluded from light for use as a vegetable.


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