Chilean Fruit Air Monitoring (CFAM) Program: Mitigating Potential Off-Gassing Hazards from Fumigated Fruit
Grapes are one of California’s top valued commodities. When grape season is over you can still find fresh imported grapes available throughout the state. Imported grapes from Chilie start to arrive at the California coast in January and continue supplying the state with fresh table grapes until California’s harvest season starts in May.
To protect domestic crops, the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, requires grapes, blueberries, and kiwis from Chile to be fumigated with Methyl Bromide (MeBr) from the European grapevine moth and the Chilean false red mite.
Following fumigation, regulatory authorities require the fruit to be aerated until the concentration of MeBr is below 5 ppm. Fruit treated with MeBr has been found to off-gas after aeration. The rate of MeBr off-gassing depends on many factors, such as how tightly MeBr binds to the fruit, method and time of aeration, temperature, and MeBr retention characteristics of the packaging materials. Hazardous levels of MeBr may build up when the produce and off-gassing fumigant are contained in an unventilated enclosure (for example, warehouses, cold storage facilities, trailer vans).
The Department of Pesticide Regulation developed the CFAM program which requires cold storage facilities to participate and adopt specific best management practices to help employers protect workers from the hazards associated with off-gassing MeBr:
To request the following documents, please email coldstorage@cdpr.ca.gov.
- 2023-2024 Season Kick-off Presentation
- Best management practices (BMP) template for cold storage facilities
- CFAM Data Log
- CFAM Data Log Instructions
- Frequently asked questions
- Methyl bromide Monitoring Equipment
- Ventilation Basics
- Regulatory Plan for Handling Grapes, Kiwis, and Blueberries Imported from Chile to California
- Summary of medical and industrial hygiene information, methyl bromide exposure associated with cold storage facility near the Port of Long Beach, 2011
Cold Storage Facilities that Have Approved Best Management Practices
(Updated February 12, 2025)
*The BMP document represents the basis for obtaining approval to receive imported commodities fumigated with MeBr upon arrival to California according to the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s Regulatory Plan for Handling Grapes, Kiwis, and Blueberries Imported from Chile to California (“Regulatory Plan”), dated December 21, 2015.
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Email: coldstorage@cdpr.ca.gov