Potato Wart Detection Confirmed by The Canadian Food Inspection Agency

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has just posted its latest update on the investigation into potato wart on Prince Edward Island (PEI), and it includes one detection in a field in Prince County.

The sample is from a farm and field associated with detection in February 2022. The detection was reported in April of this year. The agency told CBC that the field is owned by a farm that produces potatoes for processing on P.E.I., and no potatoes were produced in the field in 2022.

According to P.E.I. management, just four positive samples have been discovered out of over 50,000 samples collected since 2021. All of the positive samples were discovered in fields with CFIA limits and proximity to one another.

The CFIA stated that assuming no new detections are made, the investigations should be concluded by the fall of 2023. The following quarterly update is planned for the week of October 2, 2023.

According to the Potato Board, cited by CBC News, the industry is “pleased with the diligent work of the CFIA lab staff in working through the samples” and looks forward to the conclusion of this investigation in the coming weeks.