Los Angeles County Under Quarantine Following Guava Fruit Fly Find

Posted by Christina Herrick|June 9, 2015

A portion of Los Angeles County has been placed under quarantine for the guava fruit fly (GFF) following the detection of eight adult GFF within the city of Long Beach. The quarantine area in Los Angeles County measures 80 square miles, bordered on the north by Southern Avenue; on the south by E. Stearns Street; on the west by Central Avenue; and on the east by Norwalk Boulevard.

This comes after the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services identified two guava fruit flies during routine trapping.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture is using a male attractant treatment program, where trained workers squirt a small patch of fruit fly attractant mixed with a very small dose of pesticide approximately 8-10 feet off the ground on street trees and similar surfaces. This IPM program is being carried out over several square miles surrounding the sites where the guava fruit flies were trapped. Male fruit flies are attracted to the mixture and perish after consuming it.

The guava fruit fly, established in Southeast Asia, is a serious agricultural pest that can damage a wide variety of tree fruits including guava, apple, fig, orange, peach, and pomegranate. Damage occurs when the female fruit fly lays her eggs inside the fruit. The eggs hatch into maggots and tunnel through the flesh of the fruit, making it unfit for consumption. The GFF substantially limits agricultural production in countries such as Pakistan, India, and Thailand.

The most common pathway for these invasive species to enter our state is by “hitchhiking” in fruits and vegetables brought back by travelers as they return from infested regions around the world, or from packages of home-grown produce sent to California.