USDA to quarantine Florida citrus fruit

The United States Department of Agriculture plans to stop the shipment of fresh Florida citrus to other citrus-producing states and US territories by October 2006. According to the department, this quarantine aims to halt the spread of citrus canker from Florida, where this disease has affected 65,000 acres.

Florida growers would be barred from shipping fresh fruit to Texas, California, Louisiana, Arizona, Hawaii, and Alabama, as well as Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Forty-four US states would still permit fruit shipments.

Of the oranges produced in Florida’s $9 billion citrus industry, more than 90% are used to make juice.