7 May 2009
Biosecurity Australia Advice 2009/10
This Biosecurity Australia Advice informs stakeholders that the current requirement for the inclusion of sulfur pads in consignments of table grapes imported from California has been reviewed. The review concluded that there was no technical justification to maintain this requirement in addition to other stringent quarantine conditions that remain in place. The revised policy, which removes this mandatory requirement, is subject to a range of continuing conditions. The revised quarantine measures will take effect 14 days after the date of this notification.
Biosecurity Australia has reviewed the policy for imports of table grapes from California and concluded that there is no technical justification to maintain the existing mandatory requirement for slow release sulfur pads to be included in boxes of table grapes shipped from California. This requirement will therefore be removed, subject to the continuing application of other stringent quarantine conditions.
Slow release sulfur pads were previously required as a measure against phylloxera crawlers. Data presented by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) showed that fumigation with a combination of one per cent sulfur dioxide and six per cent carbon dioxide for 30 minutes is effective against phylloxera crawlers. The fumigation with sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide is a mandatory measure required for spiders that are a human health concern.
Standard Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) procedures, pre-clearance inspections and other measures will continue to manage the quarantine risk posed by table grapes from California. Only consignments inspected by AQIS in California and found free of live quarantine pests will be cleared for export.
The following phytosanitary measures will remain in place for all imports of table grapes from California to mitigate the risk of the introduction of quarantine pests:
- registration of vineyards and fumigation facilities
- pest free area and non-host status for specified quarantine pests
- labelling requirements for palletised and non-palletised table grapes
- forced air fumigation with 1% SO2 and 6% CO2 for 30 minutes to mitigate the risk of introduction of spiders that pose a risk to human health, and phylloxera
- AQIS pre-clearance inspection and freedom from quarantine pests in California prior to shipment
- the detection of a live glassy-winged sharpshooter (Homalodisca coagulata), or pests that are managed by pest free area or non host status during pre-clearance inspections will result in suspension of trade until the problem is investigated
- the detection of a dead glassy-winged sharpshooter during preclearance inspection will result in investigation by AQIS and APHIS to evaluate the association of H. coagulata with the table grape importation pathway
- 600-unit inspection sample and phytosanitary certification
- on-arrival consignment verification
- maintenance of a strict allowable tolerance for extraneous plant material (the presence of leaf material is a potential pathway for pests of quarantine concern, namely eggs of the glassywinged sharpshooter, H. coagulata; therefore, in the absence of mandatory methyl bromide fumigation, consignments must not contain any leaf material of grape vine (V. vinifera) or weeds)
- revision of the procedures for weed species.
Consultation
Stakeholders should direct any inquiries regarding this revision to the contact officer, before the date of effect.
Information on risk assessments and policy reviews being conducted is available from Biosecurity Australia.
Confidentiality
Respondents are advised that, subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 and the Privacy Act 1988, all submissions received in response to policy memorandums will be publicly available. Comments may be listed or referred to in any papers or reports prepared on the subject matter of the memorandums.
The Commonwealth of Australia reserves the right to reveal the identity of a respondent unless a request for anonymity accompanies the submission. Where a request for anonymity does not accompany the submission the respondent will be taken to have consented to the disclosure of their identity for the purposes of Information Privacy Principle 11 of the Privacy Act. The contents of the submission will not be treated as confidential unless they are marked ‘confidential’ and they are capable of being classified as such in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act.
Dr Colin J Grant
Chief Executive
Contact officer: Rob Schwartz
Telephone no: +61 2 6272 4865
Facsimile no: +61 2 6272 3307