The Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) sent a shipment of 25 tons of fresh Chilean pears back to Chile after discovering it was infected by a virus.
The fruit was inspected by ICA officials in the Colombian port city of Barranquilla. Upon detection of the ‘San Jose scale’ virus, the shipment of more than 25 tons of fresh pears, originally destined to be sold throughout Colombia, was reloaded on board and sent back to Chile.
, reported Colombian newspaper El Heraldo.
According to a press release on the ICA website, there are currently no scientific reports of the virus’s presence in Colombia. If it were to be introduced, the virus would have the ability to infect and kill whole trees and plantations, thus giving the ICA good reason to reject the import of infected fruit.