Country: United States

Title: Update for Sweet Orange Scab (Elsinoë australis) in Florida and Arizona

Contact:
Leon Bunce, Eastern Regional Program Manager, at (919) 855-7360 or Deborah McPartlan, National Program Manager, at (301) 734-5356

Report: Effectively immediately, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) revised the Federal Order for Elsinoë australis, the causal agent of sweet orange scab (SOS) to add the entire States of Florida and Arizona to the list of quarantine areas. The revised order also adds conditions to allow the movement of regulated fruit from the quarantine areas.

Citrus fruit from Florida and Arizona that have been harvested or packed but not yet shipped prior to the issuance of the Federal Order are not subjected to its labeling requirements. However, all other conditions outlined in the Federal Order must be met. Although APHIS is not requiring that labels accompany each container of fruit that was harvested or packed but not yet shipped prior to the March 23, 2011 Federal Order, APHIS requests that packing houses attach one label to the pallet of fruit and one label to the conveyance. Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas are already subjected to the labeling requirements via the Federal Order issued on December 22, 2010, and should continue to provide this information on both the paperwork accompanying the shipment and on the containers in which the regulated articles are packed.

On July 23, 2010, the APHIS Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory (MDL) confirmed the first U.S. detection of the fungal pathogen Elsinoë australis, causal agent of SOS, in Texas. SOS was detected and confirmed in Louisiana and Mississippi in August 2010 and October 2010, respectively. On December 22, 2010, a Federal Order was issued to establish SOS quarantine areas for the entire States of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

On December 23, 2010, MDL confirmed SOS from a grapefruit tree in a campground in Polk County, Florida and from a bitter orange tree at a residence in Broward County, Florida. On January 10, 2011, MDL confirmed SOS from a residential tangerine tree from Sarasota County, Florida. One infected tree was removed and Federal Emergency Action Notifications were issued to the remaining property owners to prevent movement of potentially infested plant material. Subsequent surveys have positively detected SOS in the following Florida Counties: Charlotte, Hillsborough, Indian River, Manatee, Orange, Palm Beach, and Pinellas.

MDL also confirmed SOS on fruit collected from a tangerine grove in Maricopa County, Arizona on January 10, 2011, and from a lemon sample from Yuma County, Arizona on February 23, 2011. Delimitation surveys were conducted in citrus-producing regions of Arizona and EANs were issued to positive establishments. To date, SOS has been detected in Maricopa and Yuma Counties in Arizona.

Under IPPC Standards, Elsinoë australis is considered to be a pest that is transient, actionable, and under surveillance in the United States.
 

Posted Date: April 4, 2011, 9 a.m.