Lenexa, Kansas - Mexican states other than Michoacan would be allowed to export avocados to the U.S. under a new proposal.

In a proposed rule published February 18 in the Federal Register, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recommends opening all of Mexico to U.S. markets.

A comment period for the proposed rule ends April 20.

After Mexico's national plant protection organization requested that APHIS amend regulations to allow U.S. avocado imports from all regions of Mexico, APHIS conducted a pest risk assessment.

The assessment concluded that a similar systems approach as the one used to regulate imports from Michoacan would work for other Mexican states.

That approach includes requirements for orchard certification, limited production area, traceback labeling, pre-harvest orchard surveys, orchard sanitation, post-harvest safeguards, fruit cutting and inspection at the packing house, port-of-arrival inspection and clearance activities.

Initially, APHIS expects that only the state of Jalisco will be able to meet those requirements, according to the Federal Register listing. Allowing imports from Jalisco is not expected to negatively affect California avocado grower-shippers.

"In 2012, Jalisco produced about 90 million pounds of Hass avocados," according to the proposed rule. "Given required phytosanitary safeguards, only a fraction of this quantity is expected to qualify for importation by the United States."

Even if all of Jalisco's avocado production met the requirements for US entry, the total quantity would be equivalent to less than 8% of US hass avocado imports in 2013, according to APHIS.

Chile and Peru would be more likely than California to be affected by the addition of Jalisco, according to the agency.