Maasdijk-based exporter Terra Natura International has become the first Dutch company to ship tomatoes to the US since the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) imposed new import regulations on the product.
The emergency measures, which came into effect on 1 February 2010, were intended to counteract the spread of tomato leafminer moth (Tuta absoluta).
Since then, Dutch suppliers have been working to satisfy the stringent requirements laid out by APHIS.
Tomato grower Van der Lans, a member of grower association FrEsteem and grower cooperative FresQ, has become the first European horticultural group to receive permission to export tomatoes to the US, Fresh Plaza reported.
Following a comprehensive USDA investigation conducted in partnership with the Dutch quality control board KCB and the Netherlands' Plant Protection Service (PD), tomatoes grown in the closed greenhouses operated by Van der Lans were approved.
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