A federal judge has vacated a USDA rule to stop requiring fumigation of Chilean grapes before they can be exported to the U.S.
Backed by other grape industry groups, the California Table Grape Commission (CTCG) sued USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service last year, challenging a rule that allowed Chilean grapes in certain regions of the country to be treated using a "systems approach."
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APHIS’s new import rule replaced the longstanding requirement for methyl bromide fumigation of Chilean grapes. CTCG challenged the move under the Administrative Procedure Act, calling the APHIS rule "arbitrary and capricious.”
The judge agreed with the plaintiffs, finding that APHIS failed to consider other reasonable alternatives to the systems approach and did not disclose the full data from the studies used to support the decision. APHIS also did not take into account growers' "reliance interests" – their expectation that the fumigation requirement would remain in place.
