Florida Fruit Shipping Laws
Florida fruit shipping laws are pretty easy to find in relation to many other states. Most information is centralized and can be found at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Their website is user friendly and the customer service is good if you have specific questions about fruit shipping that you would like to call or email about.
Most Florida laws for fruit shipping fall under Title XXXV for Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Industry’s Chapter 600-604 F.S. Here you will find everything about information such as soil and water conservation as well as marketing regulations for the citrus market specific, disease inspection control and eradication, and the Florida Citrus Code and The Tropical Fruit Policy Acts. Of course these laws do not step on the toes of all encompassing federal laws and regulations outlined by the United States Department of Citrus Rules.
Much of the fruit shipping regulation for Florida falls into the sections regarding dealers. Here there you will find information regarding licensing and the process of becoming a licensed and registered as a dealer of citrus and tropical fruits. There is regulation for fraudulently representation and a separate section on complaints of violations by citrus fruit dealers and this section co-exists with the crimes legal section of Florida law, including laws regarding fruit shipping within the state, within the country and of course international shipping violations.
There are very specific regulations for fruit shipping both by transporting citrus on highways as well as regulations by air, train and personal vehicles. Fruit shipping procedures for the packing houses, standards for shipping boxes, coloring fruits and usage for cleats on boxes and over sized boxes are outlined in Chapter 601, Sections 78-88. Chapter 601.91 outlines the unlawfulness to sell, transport, prepare, receive or deliver freeze-damaged citrus while Section 98 regulates shipment, sale or offer of imported citrus fruit or citrus products as well as permits for export to foreign countries. There are even fruit shipping regulations for Canned juices outlined very specifically in Section 99 that involves everything from standards, labeling, regulations of blending juices, and refrigeration laws.
As you can see fruit shipping in Florida alone is a complicated legally regulated activity. This is to control spread of diseases and pest as well as to regulate quality control of the Florida citrus and tropical fruit markets, let alone the number of other fruits and vegetables that are produced here. The shipping of fruits is a huge industry and it is essential to have these regulations and controls in order to ensure the safety and health of consumers as well as protect the livelihood of producers. Can you imagine this is only one of the 50 states of regulations?
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