Fruit Bites for August 31 and Sept 2 ... Trade and MRLs

BL: Welcome back to another “Fruit Bites” brought to you by Valent U.S.A. With us again is Valent’s Allison Walston. And this week Allison, we are talking about exporting fruit for trade and MRL’s …

AW: The US exports apples all over the world, primarily to Mexico and Canada, and then to Asia including, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Thailand. According to the Foreign Ag Service, $760M worth of apples were exported in 2020.

BL: So, Easy, right? But what is an MRL and why are they important?

AW: BUT, there are hurdles called MRLs, “Maximum Residue Limits” for pesticides used to grow the apple commercially. Canada, Taiwan and Thailand each have their own regulating agency that determines the maximum allowed pesticide residue on the fruit and it might not match what the US EPA has determined. So this creates a trade barrier of where apples can be exported. Or what products can be used until each manufacturer establishes an import tolerance for that product and country.

BL: Well, thanks Allison. Join us again next time for Fruit Bites, brought to you by Valent. Until then, I’m Bob Larson.