EU Bans Fruit

EU Bans Fruit

EU Bans Apples. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report.

Diphenylamine, or DPA is a growth regulator that keep apples and pears fresher, longer while in cold storage has been pushed to the forefront after the European Union has essentially banned the use. The Ag Networks, Lacy Gray has more.

GRAY: Last month the EU's Commission dropped the allowable level of DPA on imported fruit to 0.1 part per million. This has effectively created a ban on most non-organic apples since the average DPA concentration on US apples is about four times higher, at 0.42 parts per million. DPA, which is regulated as a pesticide, has been used in the US since 1962. Two years ago, the European Food Safety Authority, which evaluates pesticide risk for the Commission, found that the European producers of DPA could not prove the safety of DPA, banned its use in Europe. The U.S. apple industry has not found any issues with the use of DPA and feels the issue is closed but the EU's allowable level of DPA will more than likely have an affect on the export of fruit.

Thanks Lacy. Back in 2010, USDA reported that DPA residue was found on 80 percent of apples harvested in the United States. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not responded to the EU DPA ban but they did says that in 1997 they re-evaluated DPA and decided that the current EPA standards met "reasonable certainty of no harm."

That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.

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