Fruit fly larvae found in grapefruit

A GRAPEFRUIT containing fruit fly larvae bought from a southern Tasmanian business has been found to have been treated and supplied from Victoria.

Biosecurity Tasmania general manager Lloyd Klumpp said the discovery of larvae in the grapefruit, which was reported by a member of the public on Sunday, does not require the establishment of an exclusion zone.

Dr Klumpp said the interstate fruit supplier had been temporarily suspended and all suspect produce had been removed from the retailer involved.

“This isn’t an outbreak of the pest in Tasmania but a detection in produce from an interstate market and doesn’t require the establishment of an exclusion zone,” he said.

“This detection triggers an investigation of the processes that have been used to identify what may have enabled the larvae to reach this point of the system.”

The Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment is liaising with Victorian authorities about the source of the fruit and requirements it was subject to.

No other produce is believed to be involved.

Fruit fly was first detected in Tasmania on Flinders Island on January 11 and since then the pest has been found at Spreyton and George Town, where control zones have been set up. More than 1000 fruit fly traps are being monitored throughout Tasmania and no flies have been detected outside control zones in Northern Tasmania and Flinders Island.

Dr Klumpp said while occasional detections of fruit fly were made in produce after it crossed state borders, the latest detection highlighted the risks Tasmania faced from the pest.