This Menu serves up a comprehensive range of options to manage trade-related plant biosecurity risks. Browse The Menu to see how each of the 41 unique measures can mitigate risk.
About this tool
The Menu of Measures:
- is a decision support tool that you can use to guide the design, assessment and management of biosecurity risks across the production and supply chain
- organises measures by the four ways that they can act to reduce biosecurity risks, called Risk Reduction Objectives (RRO)
- can be applied to all plant pests (invertebrates and pathogens) of quarantine concern, and all traded articles and transport vectors
- is intended for guidance and does not reflect our official policy.
See how the Menu of Measures was developed.
Risk Reduction Objective 1: Minimise exposure to pests
Measures that provide confidence in pest freedom or low pest prevalence, or that reduce exposure to pests and the risk of infestation when the commodity is vulnerable.
Pest freedom or low pest prevalence
Summary
Measures that provide confidence in pest freedom or low pest prevalence in a designated area or registered site.
There are 4 measures in the category (Table 1). Each provide confidence in pest freedom or low pest prevalence through surveillance, with corrective actions or suspension imposed if agreed pest thresholds are exceeded.
Pest Free Areas and Areas of Low Pest Prevalence are generally more onerous to implement, they require good governance and coordination to establish and maintain. All registered businesses within the designated area can be impacted if thresholds are exceeded.
Demonstrating low pest prevalence within an area or registered site is less onerous than demonstrating pest freedom but may need to be combined with additional measures to manage phytosanitary risks.
| Category of Measure | Measure | Goal | Scale – spatial | Scale – time | Additional independent measures | Relevant ISPMs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area wide | Pest Free Area | Provide the required confidence that the target pest does not occur in the designated area, and therefore that all sites registered for trade within the designated area are pest free. | Applied to a designated area: country or part thereof. | Generally maintained over many years without interruption. | Not required. | ISPM 04, ISPM 26, ISPM 29. |
| Area of Low Pest Prevalence | Provide the required confidence that pest prevalence, and therefore infestation risk, on all registered sites within the designated area is acceptably low at times when the commodity is vulnerable. | Applied to a designated area: country or part thereof. | Generally maintained over many years without interruption. | Required if ALPP is not sufficient on its own to manage risk. | ISPM 22, ISPM 29. See also WTO-SPS Article 6. | |
| Registered site | Pest Free Site | Provide the required confidence that there are no pests in the registered site at times when the commodity is vulnerable. | Applied to a registered site where a business is responsible for undertaking regulated trade-related activities such as production, processing, storage and treatment. This includes “places of production” and “production sites”. | May be established annually or seasonally. | Not required. | ISPM 10, ISPM 30. |
| Low Pest Prevalence Site | Provide the required confidence that pest prevalence, and therefore infestation risk, is acceptably low within the designated site registered by a business, at least when the commodity is vulnerable. | Applied to a registered site where a business is responsible for undertaking regulated trade-related activities such as production, processing, storage and treatment. This includes “places of production” and “production sites”. | May be established annually or seasonally. | Required if LPPS is not sufficient on its own. | Not formalised in an ISPM. |
Measures
Pest management
Summary
Measures that supress pest populations at times when the commodity is vulnerable to infestation.
A wide range of measure options are mostly used to control pests during production, although some can also be applied post-production.
Pest management measures can be considered when assessing risk and applied as phytosanitary measures.
Measures
Pest avoidance
Summary
Measures that limit overlap in time or space between active pest populations and commodities vulnerable to infestation.
Avoidance can be achieved in time (limit seasonal overlap, limit exposure time to pest) or space (poor pest habitat, geographical isolation), or by manipulating the habitat to make it less attractive to the pest. Although most measures in this category are used during production, they can also be applied post-production.
Pest avoidance measures like limiting exposure time to pest are often applied as standard industry practice in production. These can be considered both when assessing and managing phytosanitary risks.
Measures
Pest exclusion
Summary
Measures that apply physical, temporal or spatial barriers between the pest and the commodity when vulnerable to infestation.
Physical pest exclusion can be achieved at different spatial scales, from the structure or facility (protected facilities) to secure packaging of consignments (safeguarding), down to individual protected units like individually wrapped fruit (protected units). Spatial and temporal exclusion can be achieved by using buffer zones, or ensuring the commodity is separated from sources of infestation during or after production (segregation, pest-free inputs).
Pest exclusion measures can include standard commercial practices that are considered during pest risk assessment. They are commonly applied as phytosanitary measures, including during production (e.g. protected cropping) and to help manage the risk of post-harvest infestation.
Measures
Risk Reduction Objective 2: Minimise vulnerability to infestation
Measures that reduce the vulnerability or susceptibility of the commodity (host or carrier) to pest infestation.
Host or carrier
Summary
Trade is restricted to commodities that are not hosts (or carriers), or that are modified to make them less vulnerable to infestation.
Trade can be restricted to those varieties or cultivars that are a non-host or poor host for the pest. In some cases, the export standard commodity may be harvested at a developmental stage that is a non-host or poor host for the pest. Quality specifications and prohibit parts of commodity measures can ensure that commodity units or parts thereof, respectively, that are more likely to be infested are excluded. And the vulnerability of the commodity to infestation can also be modified physically or chemically.
Host status is a key consideration when conducting pest risk analysis. Measures that affect host or carrier status can be considered during risk assessment, or be regulated as phytosanitary measures.
Additional measures are not required if the commodity is a non-host. Measures that result in poor host status may be incorporated into a phytosanitary systems approach.
Measures
Risk Reduction Objective 3: Reduce infestation rates
Measures that reduce infestation rates, if there is a risk that pests are present in a consignment.
Reduce pests in consignment
Summary
Measures that kill, inactivate, or directly remove pests from the commodity in a consignment.
Depending on the pest and commodity, this can be achieved by applying a treatment, physical processing and disturbance, surface cleaning or removing contaminants.
These measures are commonly commercial practices that can be considered during risk assessment. For example, surface cleaning requirements or extended cold storage that results in pest mortality. Some are used as phytosanitary measures to address general phytosanitary risks (e.g. removal of contaminants) whereas others, such as treatments, can be targeted against high-risk pests.
Measures
Remove infested commodity units
Summary
Measures that inspect individual commodity units and remove any that show evidence of being infested.
All commodity units are inspected when conducting symptom grading, but only those identified as being high-risk are inspected when risk-profiling.
Can be a common commercial practice (e.g. quality assurance schemes) that may be considered during risk assessment. These can also be applied as a phytosanitary measure, most commonly during post-production.
Measures
Remove infested consignments or high-risk pathways
Summary
Measures that inspect a representative sample of a consignment, with remedial action applied to the consignment or pathway if pests are detected.
Quarantine with remedial action differs from inspection with remedial action in that the consignment is held in quarantine until infestation is detectable.
These measures can be used as phytosanitary measures, most commonly after production.
Inspection with remedial action is also often required of the exporting jurisdiction, with oversight by the NPPO or relevant authority, to provide assurance that entry conditions are working as intended. Importing jurisdictions are generally responsible for quarantine with remedial action and can also choose to undertake an inspection with remedial action.
Measures
Risk Reduction Objective 4: Reduce the likelihood of pest entry and establishment
Factors that reduce the likelihood of pest entry and establishment. These can be considered when conducting a pest risk assessment, or in some cases be applied as measures.
Limit propagule pressure
Summary
Factors that limit the potential number or frequency of introductions of the pest and its distribution and transfer to a susceptible host within an area.
Trade volume will influence the number or frequency of potential entry events, whereas smaller packaging size can reduce the potential number of individual pests introduced together at any one location. Preventing escape can physically prevent the introduction and release of pests.
Anticipated trade volumes can be considered when conducting a pest risk assessment, whereas limiting packaging size and preventing escape can both inform a risk assessment and be applied as phytosanitary measures.
Measures
Limit export destinations or use
Summary
Factors that affect the ability of the pest to establish and survive within an area.
Imports may be approved to specific areas (poor destination habitat), during certain seasons (poor time of year), or for specific uses (restricted end-use) that are unfavourable for the establishment of the target pest.
The effect of time of year, habitat suitability and specified end-uses on establishment risk are key factors that are considered when conducting a pest risk assessment. As phytosanitary measures, they are mostly applied to pathways where establishment likelihood varies greatly with season or geographically, and where post-border movements can be sufficiently well managed (e.g. for processing).