Mt Roskill store pulls produce as fruit fly biosecurity operation ramps up

Fruit and vegetable bins outside Greens and Grains dairy in Mt Roskill are empty as a biosecurity operation to hunt down the Queensland fruit fly ramps up. Herald photograph by Jason Dorday.

UPDATE: Queensland fruit fly Mt Roskill controls: The rules for fruit and vegetables

A major biosecurity operation is underway in a central Auckland suburb after the discovery of a Queensland fruit fly, with shopkeepers today being visited by officials over the sale of fruit and vegetables.

A single male fruit fly was detected during routine trapping in Mt Roskill on Wednesday, triggering the response with immediate restrictions on the movement of fresh produce out of Mt Roskill.

These restrictions will affect several Mt Roskill fruit retailers.

Antony Steam, who works at the Greens and Grains dairy in Mt Roskill, received a brochure from biosecurity about the Queensland fruit fly. Herald photograph by Jason Dorday.

Biosecurity officers were today at Mt Roskill South shops at the top of White Swan and Richardson Rds delivering brochures warning that a biosecurity operation was underway.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) brochure featured a large picture of a fruit fly and said it had been found in their neighbourhood.

Bins that normally contained fresh fruit and vegetables for sale outside the shop were empty.

Ankit Bansal, chair of the Dairy and Business Owners Group, told the Herald: “In principle, we support the restrictions, but we ask MPI to please only do what is absolutely necessary."

The Queensland fruit fly lays its eggs in fruit. When the maggots hatch they eat the fruit, causing it to rot. In Queensland the fruit fly costs growers hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

MPI estimates that 80% of New Zealand horticulture crops could be attacked by the Queensland fruit fly. But the risk to the multibillion-dollar industry goes beyond the direct threat of crop destruction. The establishment of the Queensland fruit fly could result in New Zealand’s trading partners placing restrictions on the export of New Zealand produce.

The maggots are known to eat more than 200 different types of fruit and vegetables. Their favourites are guava, stone-fruit, tomatoes and mango.

Two of MPI’s five active biosecurity operations are centred on Auckland. Last year, a queen yellow-legged hornet was discovered in Glenfield.

So far a total of 41 queens have been found – all within a 1km detection buffer.

This is not the first time the Queensland fruit fly has been detected in Auckland. Its detection in Devonport and Northcote in early 2019 triggered a six-month, $18 million operation.

The 2015 response to Queensland fruit fly detections in the Grey Lynn area cost $15.7m.

Fruit fly surveillance

Biosecurity New Zealand uses more than 7800 traps to detect 100 species of fruit fly, including the Queensland fruit fly. Most traps are placed where flies are most likely to enter the country – near airports, seaports, and densely populated areas.

Trapping runs from September to June, when fruit flies are active. If a breeding population is found, insecticide treatments are used, but if only males or only females are found, insecticides are not needed.

Report any suspected sightings

• By calling the MPI exotic pest and disease hotline on 0800 809 966;
• By emailing MPI at info@mpi.govt.nz;
• Online at report.mpi.govt.nz  – if you use this method, ensure you select the “plants, spiders or insects” option from the dropdown list.

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