Victoria Department of Primary Industries response to the Draft import risk analysis report for fresh unshu mandarin fruit from Japan

1 Spring Street
GPO Box 4440 Melbourne
Victoria 3001 Australia
Telephone:(03) 9658 4000
Facsimile:(03) 9658 4400
ABN 42 579 412 233
DX 210404

26 September 2008

Dr Colin Grant
Chief Executive Plant Biosecurity
Biosecurity Australia
Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry - Australia
GPO Box 858
CANBERRA ACT 2602

Dear Dr Grant

DPI Response to the Import Risk Analysis for Fresh Unshu Mandarins From Japan

Thank you for your memorandum of 29 July 2008, notifying the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) of the release for comment of the Import Risk Analysis (IRA) for fresh Unshu mandarins from Japan.

Specialists within the DPI have examined the IRA and have made the following comments:

1. The draft report proposes import from designated areas within the Shizuoka Prefecture subject to quarantine conditions for five groups of insect/mite pests, citrus scab and most significantly, the bacterial pathogen that causes citrus canker;
2. Currently, the import of fresh citrus into Australia is only permitted from countries or areas that are free from citrus canker;
3. The IRA represents a major change of policy for Australia, especially following the recent costly campaign (which will conclude in 2009) to eradicate citrus canker from the Emerald region of Queensland. This campaign will have run from 2004 to the proposed declaration of eradication in 2009;
4. The proposed conditions for import include inspections and monitoring, and for citrus canker, a rather involved systems approach including:
   • Registration of export orchards in the four export areas;
   • Two years freedom from symptoms of canker in the export areas;
   • Current season freedom of symptoms of canker based on two times of monitoring (petal fall and pre-harvest);
   • Additional surveillance following occurrence of typhoon conditions;
   • Copper sprays;
   • Restrictions on movement of host material into the export areas; and
   • Post-harvest chemical treatment of fruit.
5. Other conditions include an operational system to maintain and verify status of consignments, and pre-clearance by AQIS; and
6. These proposals appear to be thorough and reasonable; however, because of the importance of citrus canker, and the fact that this is a significant change in policy for Australia and also because of the complexity of the proposed systems approach, it is vital that they are audited thoroughly in order to reduce the risk of introducing this exotic pest to an acceptable level.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on the Import Risk Analysis and I look forward to being notified of the progress of this IRA.

Yours sincerely

[Signed]

PETER J BAILEY
Executive Director Biosecurity Victoria

For more information call our Customer Service Centre on 136 186 or visit our website at www.dpi.vic.gov.au

Disclaimer: The department received this submission in hardcopy only, which has been converted into an accessible format to meet Australian Government accessibility requirements. While due care was taken to ensure the information was reproduced accurately, the PDF should be considered the original document for official purposes.