Country: United States

Title: Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (Huanglongbing): APHIS Expands the Quarantined Area in California

Contact:
Shailaja Rabindran, Director of Cotton Pests and Specialty Crops, at 301-851-2167.

Report:

Effectively immediately, the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and the California citrus industry, is expanding the area quarantined for Huanglongbing, also called citrus greening disease (Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus) in California. APHIS is adding portions of Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties in California to the quarantined area. APHIS is taking this action because of Huanglongbing detections in plant tissue samples collected in multiple locations in California. APHIS is applying safeguarding measures on the interstate movement of regulated articles from the quarantined areas in California. These measures parallel the intrastate quarantine that CDFA established on January 6, 2019. This action is necessary to prevent the spread of Huanglongbing to non-infested areas of the United States. The specific changes to the quarantined areas in California are attached and can also be found at:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant-health/citrus-greening

APHIS will publish a notice of this change in the Federal Register.

Under IPPC Standards, 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' is considered to be a pest that is present, only in some areas, and subject to official control to limit its spread in the United States.

Posted Date: Feb. 7, 2020, 5:50 p.m.