Medfly triggers quarantine that includes Travis

  • Published
  • By By Merrie Schilter-Lowe
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing

A Mediterranean fruit fly infestation in Solano County has triggered an 85-square mile quarantine that encompasses Travis Air Force Base, California.

Since California produces about 50 percent of the nation’s fruits, nuts and vegetables, the state “takes aggressive actions once exotic pest species are identified in an area, in this case, the Mediterranean fruit fly,” said Lt. Col. Natalie Johns, 60th Medical Group public health flight commander.

Public health, environmental and pest management officials at Travis met with U.S. and California Department of Food and Agriculture officials Oct. 3 to discuss how Travis will be included in enhanced surveillance and eradication efforts. 

“Enhanced surveillance includes setting traps near 'host' fruit trees and monitoring activity at least weekly until mid-July 2018,” said Johns.    

The Mediterranean fruit fly – also known as the medfly – is not harmful if touched, but it is devastating to crops, said Johns.

Damage occurs when the female lays eggs inside the fruit, which hatch into maggots that tunnel through the fruit, making it unfit to eat. 

USDA and CDFA set traps in seven locations on Travis, including family housing, the Airman and Family Readiness Center and outdoor recreation.  The medfly is known to target some 250 types of fruits and vegetables, including olives, apples, lemons and tomatoes. 

Food and agriculture officials are also encouraging people with home gardens to consume their produce on site and not move it to other locations unless it is cooked or frozen to prevent an infestation from spreading to nearby regions and other backyard gardens.

Because the quarantine affects growers, wholesalers and retail stores that sell susceptible fruit, officials met with Travis commissary officials to ensure they remain compliant with regulatory requirements for receiving and storing fruit, said Johns.

Additionally, USDA will conduct aerial releases of some 500,000 sterile male medflies per square mile over a 50-square mile area, which includes a large portion of Travis. 

“On average, these releases will occur on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays each week,” said Ian Walters, CDFA Medfly Preventive Release program spokesman.

 Flights occur before noon and continue through June of 2018.

Once released, the sterile flies will immediately head to host plants to try to mate with female flies, said Johns.  With no offspring to replace them, the medfly population ultimately will be eradicated in about nine months, or three lifespans.

Sterile male medflies are provided by the joint CDFA and USDA sterile insect rearing facility in Los Alamitos, California. 

The Mediterranean fruit fly is a short, squat fly about 1/4 inch in length with a tan abdomen and a black thorax marked with silver.  

The most common pathway for it and other invasive species to enter a region is by hitchhiking in fruits and vegetables brought back illegally by people who visit infested regions of the world.  Although the medfly is native to Africa, it has spread to other parts of the world including southern Europe, Australia and the New World tropics.

Residents who believe their fruits and vegetables are infested with fruit fly larvae should call the state’s toll-free Pest Hotline at 1-800-491-1899