A protocol to keep Mexican limes from spreading citrus greening
in the U.S. has not slowed fruit movement. Limes are highly
susceptible to the bacterial disease huanglongbing, also known
as HLB or citrus greening, said Stuart Kuehn, Texas state plant
health director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Service. And while many Mexican lime
trees, particularly in the Colima growing region, have succumbed
to the disease, a protocol for inspecting limes to prevent the
spread of greening has not slowed imports, Kuehn said. Greening
has destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of citrus in
Florida. Through March 9, Mexican lime exports to the U.S. were
up from the year before, according to the USDA. The protocol
calls for the removal of all leaf material before limes can ship
from Mexico to the U.S. Except for a few isolated incidents,
it’s been business as usual for lime exporters and importers,
said Ray Prewett, president of Mission-based Texas Citrus
Mutual. “There have bee