05/02/05 Taiwan reopened to apples, Part two

05/02/05 Taiwan reopened to apples, Part two

So now that U.S. apples are allowed back in Taiwan, the question is what does our nation's apple industry have to do to prevent a similar closure? Taiwan closed its market after inspectors detected cases of coddling moth larvae in apple shipments from the Northwest and California, as part of a previous service agreement made by both nations. Since then, federal and state officials in the U.S. have conducted intensive training for packing house employees which helped reopen the Taiwanese market. Mike Willett of the Northwest Horticultural Council says similar educational efforts will have to take place in order for growers to understand the new, yet at this time undefined, system of coddling moth detection to keep U.S. apples coming into Taiwan. WILLETT: We're going to have to have extensive outreach and we anticipate working closely with Washington State University and the other universities in the region to help in these educational efforts and working with growers in the packing facilities to implement a program that is accessible to Taiwan and also will help our industry avoid having market closures again. And Willett says even now, growers and packing houses will have to step up make sure their shipments to Taiwan do not contain coddling moth and larvae, and risk another closure of the U.S.'s third largest market to apples.
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