159-2020 - Imported fresh whole kiwifruit from Italy and France

18 September 2020

Who does this notice affect?

The Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies, the Ministry of Agriculture, Agrifood and Forestry of France, and exporters, importers and retailers of fresh whole kiwifruit from Italy and France.

What has changed?

The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (the department) has updated the approved cold treatment schedules¹ for the management of Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata) on fresh kiwifruit from Italy and France.

• For pre-shipment cold treatment, one of the updated approved schedules¹ must be applied and certified on the phytosanitary certificate accompanying the goods. Pre-shipment cold treatment consignments that have not been treated according to one of the updated approved schedules¹ and certified on the accompanying phytosanitary certificate will not be offered inspection. Importers will be offered options of export or disposal.
• In-transit cold treatment consignments that have not met the requirements of one of the updated approved schedules¹ will be managed by the department according to existing proposals for managing failed in-transit cold treatments.

¹ Fruit pulp temperature at or below:

1. 0.00°C for not less than 12 consecutive days, or
2. 1.11°C for not less than 14 consecutive days, or
3. 1.67°C for not less than 16 consecutive days, or
4. 2.22°C for not less than 18 consecutive days.

The department will monitor on-arrival pest non-compliance during the season, with the expectation that pest non-compliance is acceptably low. Where a high pest load is detected, the department will introduce additional pre-shipment measures to reduce the level of on-arrival intervention required by the department. Please see previous related IAN 77-2020 - Reducing contaminant pests on fresh kiwifruit from Italy.

Further information

If you have questions or need further information, you can contact our Import Services team on:

• Email at imports. Please put in the subject line ‘Fresh kiwifruit’.
• Phone (from within Australia): 1800 900 090
• Phone (from outside Australia): + 61 3 8318 6700