When the U.S. threatened to impose a ban on P.E.I. potatoes, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) acted first to impose its own ban in December.
It said acting first makes it easier to negotiate a resumption of exports to the U.S.
Since then, the CFIA said "soil samples were collected and tested from across Canada, including 178 samples from non-regulated seed potato fields in P.E.I. No potato wart was detected in any of the samples."
That survey is separate from investigations also being conducted by the CFIA after inspectors found potato wart in two P.E.I. fields. The Canada-wide survey provides some additional information about the spread of potato wart in Canada, the CFIA statement said.
The talks will include Puerto Rico which has been importing about 25 per cent of P.E.I.’s exports destined for U.S. markets.
Puerto Rico does not grow potatoes, so is presumed to be no threat for spreading potato wart to the U.S.
