Country: Canada

Title: New Reports of Potato Wart (Synchytrium endobioticum) in Prince Edward Island, Canada (2012)

Contact:
Alain Boucher, National Manager - Potato Section, Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), Moncton, New Brunswick; phone: 506-851-2511; e-mail: <a href="mailto:Alain.Boucher@inspection.gc.ca">Alain.Boucher@inspection.gc.ca</a>

Report: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has recently confirmed the presence of potato wart in two fields on separate farms in Prince Edward Island (PEI).
 
Potato wart is a quarantine pest that is regulated in Canada because it reduces yield and can make potatoes unmarketable.  The Agency has placed the fields under quarantine and is carrying out additional control measures as part of Canada’s potato wart long-term management plan. These measures include controlling the movement of equipment and soil as well as cleaning and disinfecting machinery to prevent spread of the pest.  To mitigate the spread of this pest, the potatoes produced in the fields will be destroyed.
 
The CFIA, with the PEI government and PEI industry associations are working together to control this pest and inform various stakeholders of the situation.
 
The potato wart long-term management plan was established after the initial finding in 2000 and has been used to respond to previous detections of the pest. It includes regulatory requirements to effectively manage detections and prevent trade disruptions in the event of future detections. The last detection occurred in 2007.
 
Under IPPC standards, Potato wart is considered to be present, only in some areas of Canada, and is subject to official controls.

For more information on potato wart please visit the CFIA website (www.inspection.gc.ca). 
 

Posted Date: Sept. 26, 2012, 9 a.m.