A male fruit fly was found in a trap in Grey Lynn, Auckland. As a result, people in a 1.5 km radius of that area cannot take any fruit, or vegetables like tomatoes and courgettes out of that area. They cannot sell their produce at a local market and cannot give it to friends in a different part of Auckland. There is no problem with root vegetables like carrots, or leafy vegetables like cabbage.
The fruit fly comes from Australia or possibly New Caledonia. Previously, only Queensland had the fruit fly but now it has spread to New South Wales and Victoria. We buy 22 tonnes of fruit and vegetables from Australia every year, especially tropical fruit which we can’t grow here like mangoes and pineapples. It is usually treated some way to kill the fruit fly before we import it.
Our horticulture industry is our 4th largest export industry. We export fruit such as cherries and kiwifruit, and some vegetables. We don’t want fruit fly because other countries might refuse to buy our produce.
Listen to January 25th 2014 and follow the link to May 11th 2012, to hear more about finding fruit fly in NZ.
Vocabulary
• produce – food we grow
• radius – a line from the centre of a circle to the edge of a circle
• previously – a time before
• tropical – from a hot country, from the tropics
• treated –irradiation or sprayed with a chemical
• horticultural – plants we grow
• refuse – will not buy it
Five more male fruit flies have been found in the area as well as eggs, larvae and pupae – all the stages in the development of the fly. The restrictions on moving produce out of the area will now continue for about 2 months instead of 2 weeks. Officers are also spraying under trees and setting more traps. About 30 officers are working in the area as of February 24th. Also, biosecurity at the airport has been increased with more sniffer dogs and more bags put through Xray machines.