The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service has established a new destination inspection process for Canadian potatoes entering the U.S., as part of a new trade agreement between the two countries.
The objective of this process is to examine Canada’s new assessment procedure for potatoes and guarantee U.S. consumers are afforded the best possible potato, said John Keeling, president of the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Potato Council.
As of March 10, fresh Canadian potatoes crossing the border are subject to random destination inspections to verify compliance for quality and grade standards, Keeling said.
This new program was motivated by a modification in the Canadian Federal Inspection Agency’s Section 8e compliance procedure for Canadian potatoes. Previously, CFIA employees would handle inspections, and instead, are now training people to conduct inspections, making it a more supervised — rather than hands-on — process, Keeling said.
The objective of this process is to examine Canada’s new assessment procedure for potatoes and guarantee U.S. consumers are afforded the best possible potato, said John Keeling, president of the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Potato Council.
As of March 10, fresh Canadian potatoes crossing the border are subject to random destination inspections to verify compliance for quality and grade standards, Keeling said.
This new program was motivated by a modification in the Canadian Federal Inspection Agency’s Section 8e compliance procedure for Canadian potatoes. Previously, CFIA employees would handle inspections, and instead, are now training people to conduct inspections, making it a more supervised — rather than hands-on — process, Keeling said.
