Fruit Fly Outbreak Declared Dead in South Florida
October 4, 2018 
The Oriental fruit fly is a notorious pest that is known to attack more than 430 different fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
Photo courtesy of Pest and Diseases Image Library
Score another one for the Swat team. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) and the USDA have declared eradication of the latest Oriental fruit fly outbreak in the predominantly agricultural Redlands area of Miami-Dade County. Due to early detection and rapid response, no quarantine was required during this program, according to FDACS.
This successful Oriental fruit fly eradication is the second in recent years. The last eradication effort, also in Miami-Dade County, took place in late 2015 and early 2016. That infestation was reported as more widespread and required a nearly 100-square-mile quarantine zone and extensive collaboration with the agriculture industry, USDA, and local leaders.
The Oriental fruit fly is considered one of the most serious of the world’s fruit fly pests and attacks more than 430 different fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Population growth can be explosive, as females are capable of producing hundreds of eggs infesting fruit and rendering it unsuitable for human consumption.
A cooperative state and federal program monitors more than 56,000 fruit fly traps across the state as an early fruit fly detection network to prevent fruit fly introductions.
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