Major Ingredients in Thai Food Harder to Find

Two of the major ingredients that give Thai food its distinctive flavor, have become harder to find because the U.S. Department of Agriculture has quarantined shipments containing diseases that could harm American crops.

More than 50% of the lemon grass imported from Asian countries and some samples from Puerto Rico have been detained because of a rust disease, according to Robert Griffin, head of the import unit in the Department of Agriculture’s Plant Protection and Quarantine section of the Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service. Other sources of lemon grass are California, Hawaii and the West Indies.

Fresh and dried Kaffir lime leaves from Thailand are embargoed from entry because they may contain the citrus canker, a bacterial disease that could devastate the American citrus group, Griffin says. Kaffir lime leaves are also grown in California and Florida.