Country: United States

Title:

Bactrocera dorsalis (Oriental Fruit Fly): APHIS Removes the Quarantine in North Hills, Los Angeles County, California

Contact:
Richard Johnson, Fruit Fly National Policy Manager, at (301) 851-2109 or richard.n.johnson@usda.gov

Report:

Effective September 26, 2022, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) removed the Oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis or OFF) quarantine in the North Hills area of Los Angeles County, California.

On July 1, 2022, APHIS and CDFA established an OFF quarantine in the North Hills area of Los Angeles County and restricted interstate movement of regulated articles from this area to prevent the spread of OFF to non-infested areas of the United States. This action was necessary in response to the confirmed detections of 14 adult male OFF from four sites in the North Hills area by CDFA between June 22 and June 28, 2022, all from traps in various types of fruit trees in residential areas.

Since that time, APHIS has worked cooperatively with CDFA and the Los Angeles County Department of the Agricultural Commissioner to eradicate the transient OFF population through various control actions per program protocols. APHIS removed the quarantine area after three OFF life cycles elapsed with negative detections in this area.

The following website contains a description of all the current Federal fruit fly quarantine areas:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant-health/ff-quarantine

Under IPPC standards, Bactrocera dorsalis is a pest that has been eradicated from North Hills area of Los Angeles County, California. Following separate incursions, this pest is present only in one area [Fountain Valley, Orange County] in California. This species is not widely distributed and is under official control in the United States.

Posted Date: Oct. 24, 2022, 2:02 p.m.