Chinanews, Ningbo, Apr. 12 – The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) recently issued a notification forbidding inbound visitors to bring corn seeds from the United States into China in order to prevent the entry of corn wilt. Based on this notification, AQSIQ’s Ningbo branch in Zhejiang recently strengthen their efforts for passenger luggage check.

 

Corn wilt, formally known as Stewart's bacterial wilt of corns, first occurred in the United States and later spread to Italy, Poland, France, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Australia. The disease is spread through corn seeds infected with the bacterium. The bacterium can travel a long distance. Once infected, the plant withers. The disease is very harmful to corns, especially sweet corns.

 

China has not become an infected area of the disease so far. However, the bacterium can set in most parts of China. Once brought in, it can spread quickly throughout the country.

 

American corn seeds are included in China’s official guide book as things that are forbidden to be brought into China. Chinese government will confiscate and destroy any such seeds once they are detected. If some institutions want to import American corn seeds for scientific research purpose, the import should gain AQSIQ’s approval and the seeds should pass checks before they are imported.