The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Aug. 8 opened a 60-day consultation as part of its ongoing drafting of a new national potato wart response plan.
The CFIA is proposing to update its detection threshold for classifying a field as potato-wart positive as well as introducing a viability confirmation status field classification, according to a summary from the USDA.
The CFIA also proposes to introduce a field of concern classification, which is a suspect field in the current draft response plan. Comments can be submitted until Oct. 7 this year to cfia.potatosection-sectiondespommesdeterre.acia@inspection.gc.ca.
To date, the summary said two provinces in Canada have reported potato wart: Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island.
“Newfoundland is considered endemic for potato wart, where it was first reported in 1909, with strict biosecurity measures in effect, including a prohibition on moving potatoes out of the province,” the USDA report said. Potato wart was first detected on [Prince Edward Island] in 2000.
A U.S. federal order was implemented in 2015 following additional detections in Prince Edward Island, which specified import conditions for Prince Edward Island potatoes to prevent introduction of potato wart to the U.S.
The order was amended in April 2022 following 2021 detections of potato wart in two Prince Edward Island potato fields, prohibiting the importation of Prince Edward Island-grown seed potatoes into the U.S. while allowing imports of Prince Edward Island potatoes for consumption that meet specified conditions.
Following the 2021 detections, CFIA initiated an investigation into potato wart on Prince Edward Island. The results of soil sampling from that investigation, along with previous potato wart detections, have led to a cumulative total of 37 Prince Edward Island fields testing positive for potato wart since 2000; and the investigation that took place from October 2021 to July 2023 resulted in four detections from 48,789 samples, the report said. Fields with confirmed potato wart are classed as restricted fields and undergo a period of evaluation for several years before restrictions can be released, the summary said.
In a July letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, expressed concern that, despite current USDA regulations identifying soil testing as the most effective tool to detect potato wart, the USDA does not require testing of Prince Edward Island fields prior to potatoes being cleared for export to the U.S.
