information note for wto members - assessment of risks of exotic spiders associated with imported table grapes 193 pages available in english following the discovery post border of live exotic spiders including black widow spiders on shipments new zealand temporarily suspended imports of californian table grapes in november 2001 as the risks to human health and the environment were no longer considered acceptable. this suspension was notified to members in g sps n nzl 160 13 november 2001 draft health impact and pest risk assessments have been completed along with recommended mitigation measures for the trade in table grapes from the united states of america state of california australia mexico and chile. recommended measures for california are proposed on human health grounds and do not require high resource or equipment inputs and may allow trade to recommence. the measures in summary include visual inspection of the grapes and packaging for spider life stages at harvest currently done but not specifically targeting spiders tightening of specifications for the type of packaging to be used tightening of procedures for fumigation of grapes and packaging with so2 co2 gas recommended all grape boxes be identifiable back to a treatment facility and treatment batch and nz maf inspectors will audit these facilities prior to exports beginning and at various times during the export season the product will be subject to post treatment security measures to prevent re-infestation with exotic spiders and there will be an official inspection of a sample of 920 grape bunches and their packaging with a zero acceptance level for exotic spiders per consignment and the level of spider interceptions and post-border detections will be reviewed at the end of the season and any possible changes to the programme initiated at that time. no additional measures have been proposed for australia chile and mexico. once post-border contingencies have been agreed for the california pathway these will be applied consistently across all table grape pathways. these contingencies include trace-back to treatment facilities for post-border defections of exotic spiders of human health concern or multiple detections of other exotic spiders to check compliance with measures in the import health standard. as these are trade-facilitating measures the comments period has been reduced