Morales hopes APHIS ban will be lifted soon
Morales hopes APHIS ban will be lifted soon
Desiree Morales, vice president of W.P. Produce Corp. in Miami, said she hopes the recent ban on certain commodities imported from the Dominican Republic will be temporary in nature and allow companies such as hers to continue with movement of signature items such as green skin avocados.
“The avocado season this year has been very good,” she told The Produce News in late March. “We have had excellent quality with steady volume and would have had fruit until the end of April. However, imports on various perishable items into the United States from the Dominican Republic have been temporarily restricted by APHIS due to a possible Medfly issue. This truly surprised us because we source many of our produce items from the Dominican Republic and have never encountered this nor anything like this issue. Our suppliers and growers have implemented strict food-safety measures in order for this type of issue not to occur. We are confident this will soon be resolved. But it’s very unfortunate that the irresponsibility of a few can jeopardize an entire industry and/or country. Going forward, hopefully we can learn from this and collectively push toward a global food-safety standard that needs to be followed by all.”
The company’s Haitian mango season began the week of March 23 and will continue through the end of June. “We are looking forward to this season and are expecting a 15 percent increase of sales,” Morales stated.
The company, founded in 1984 by Morales’ father, Willy Pardo, moves a broad line of tropicals and roots. It also markets boniato, Florida avocados, guava and mamey. Commodities are marketed under the “Desbry” brand.