The U.S. Department of Agriculture has lifted the final barrier that was keeping table potatoes from Prince Edward Island out of the United States.
A final federal order posted today clears the way for potatoes from P.E.I. after Canada and the U.S. agreed last week to let exports resume.
Canada halted exports in November after potato wart fungus, which disfigures potatoes and reduces crop yields but is otherwise harmless, was detected in several Island fields last fall.
Seed potatoes from P.E.I., which comprise roughly 10 percent of the Island’s annual output, remain banned from the U.S.
To qualify for export, the USDA requires that potatoes and the seed potatoes used to grow them be from fields not known to be infested with potato wart.
They must also be washed clean of soil while still in P.E.I., be treated with a sprout inhibitor and graded to the U.S. No. 1 standard.
