Comment from Ray Hernandez

New York, April 14, 2011 Regulatory Analysis and Development PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road, Unit 118 Riverdale, MD 20737-1238 RE: Docket No. APHIS-2010-0127 Coosemans N.Y. Inc. is writing to express its strong support for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) proposed rule Docket No. APHIS-2010-0127 which would allow the importation of Hass avocados from Peru into the United States without cold treatment, which has proved to injure the fruit, shorten its shelf life, and affect the ripening process. Coosemans N.Y Inc, and its clients: supermarkets, grocery stores, restaurants and final consumers will greatly benefit from this proposed rule since we will be able to consume a high quality product. With the current cold treatment, the green skin of Peruvian avocados quickly become dark, forcing us to lower their market price and causing commercial losses. In this sense, we strongly recommend the APHIS to lift the mandatory application of this cold treatment and other quarantine procedures, because it has been demonstrated that Peruvian Hass avocados are resistant to “Medfly” and “South American Fruit Fly”. We urge APHIS to adopt this proposed rule as soon as possible, in order to permit us import the excellent Peruvian Hass avocados by this spring. Thank you and best regards, Ray Hernandez General Manager of Sales Coosemans NY, Inc.