Chile has a new inspection site for fresh fruits and vegetables destined for the United States. This is located in the Atacama Region, one of the key areas for producing Chilean table grapes destined for the U.S. market under the Systems Approach protocol.
The site, which has 3,650 square meters (11,975 square feet) and 30 inspection tables, will strengthen the capacity to review and comply with the required international standards.
The Ministry of Agriculture explained that more than 600 million Chilean pesos (US$612,000) were invested in the inspection site, which Frutas de Chile and the regional government contributed.
The new infrastructure is in addition to seven other phytosanitary inspection sites throughout the country, which are the result of a more than 40-year tripartite agreement between the Agriculture and Livestock Service (SAG), the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA-APHIS), and Frutas de Chile.
Ignacio Caballero, executive director of the Chilean Fruit Table Grape Committee, emphasized that this initiative “will boost inspection capabilities and compliance with the required international standards, strengthening the country's image as the main exporter of fresh fruit in the southern hemisphere.
He added that, to date, “we have inspected more than 1 million boxes of table grapes under Systems Approach from Atacama, Coquimbo, and Valparaíso. Of this figure, 675,100 boxes are from Copiapó”.
The first edition of GrapeTech will be held on June 18 at the Casino Monticello Event Center. The event, organized by UvaNova and Yentzen Group, will be the most important technical event on table grapes in Chile and will bring together world experts to provide technical aspects that allow the growth of the industry, such as post-harvest issues, crop management, analysis of new varieties and nutrition, among others. More information at events@yentzengroup.com or visit www.grapetechconvention.com
