The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is seeking comments for pest risk assessment on fresh mango imports from Panama. 

The organization prepared the document to examine the risks associated with importing commercially produced mangoes from the Central American country into the U.S.

"Based on the scientific literature, port-of-entry pest interception data, and information from the government of Panama, we developed a list of all potential pests with actionable regulatory status for the United States that are known to occur in Panama (on any host) and to be associated with the commodity plant species (anywhere in the world)," it said.

"Of these, we found 9 organisms that have a reasonable likelihood of being associated with the commodity following harvesting from the field and prior to any post-harvest processing, and thus are potentially able to follow the pathway.

It said that while two were not candidates for risk management - either because there is no endangered area within the U.S. - seven "met the threshold for unacceptable consequences of introduction and had a non-negligible likelihood of introduction."

The seven organisms in question are all different types of anthropod.

Countries that currently have access to the U.S. fresh mango market include Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Brazi, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

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