(Adds minister’s quote, details)
By Rod Nickel
Jan 27 (Reuters) – Canada expects to resume shipments of
table potatoes from the province of Prince Edward Island (PEI)
to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico in two weeks, and to the
U.S. mainland in the weeks following that, partially resolving a
trade dispute over crop fungus, Canadian Agriculture Minister
Marie-Claude Bibeau said.
Bibeau met in Washington on Thursday with U.S. Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack, after shipments of PEI fresh potatoes to
the United States halted in November over U.S. concerns about
potato wart.
Bibeau said Vilsack agreed to ask the U.S. Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to conduct a risk analysis of
PEI potatoes to Puerto Rico within two weeks, and a risk
analysis for the mainland United States in the weeks after that.
“It gave us a lot of hope,” Bibeau told Reuters.
“Considering that our Canadian scientists are so confident
(about safety), we think that the American scientists should
come to the same conclusion.”
Bibeau said it would take longer to resolve U.S. concerns
about potatoes used in processing and to plant crops.
Potato wart can decrease crop yields but poses no threat to
human health or food safety.
(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg; Editing by Sandra Maler)
(([email protected]; Twitter: @RodNickel_Rtrs;
1-204-230-6043;))
Keywords: CANADA USA/POTATOES (UPDATE 1, PIX)
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