Title: Probe into fruit fly quarantine lapse
Orginal link: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21631648-1244,00.html
Author: By Glenn Cordingley
Published date:April 27, 2007 05:36pm
HUMAN error could have caused the biosecurity bungle threatening Tasmania"s multi-million dollar fruit industry.[/b]


Fruit fly larvae was found in imported guava bought by a Woolworths customer in the state on Tuesday.

Quarantine Tasmania has recalled all the stock along with papayas in the same interstate shipment that may have been cross-infected.

Tasmania currently enjoys a fruit fly-free status, which enables massive exports to lucrative overseas markets.

The head of biosecurity at the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and Water,(DPIW) Alex Schaap, said 12 cartons of each type of fruit in question had been imported from the Sydney Markets.

He said the boxes came with the correct paperwork saying it had been fumigated.

But Mr Schaap could not say if the labelling gaffe originated at the markets or from the grower, south of Brisbane.

"This fruit was accompanied by the appropriate certification and if there had been a switching of the fruit, then that"s something of concern and we have to look at the procedures in place to make sure that doesn"t happen again," he said.

He said most of the guava has now been recalled and that quarantine officers have not discovered any larvae.

Mr Schaap said the DPIW was considering taking legal action.

"We understand there has been a mix-up interstate in terms of the dispatch of this material and it appears we may well have received material that was not fumigated at all," he said.

"In a case of this nature we always consider the prospect of legal action and we will be doing that in this matter."

Mr Schaap said he cannot remember a similar case of fruit fly larvae being imported into Tasmania, saying the risk of spread was low.

"The possibility of the larvae developing at this type of temperature is quite restricted," he said.

All of the returned fruit will be fumigated and destroyed.

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