Mangoes sent to South Australia from a Northern Territory supplier are being withdrawn from supermarket shelves and fumigated or destroyed after the discovery of Jarvis fruit fly maggots.
All fruit sent from the particular grower to SA since October 5, including some still in storage, is affected by the decision.
Primary Industries executive director of biosecurity Nathan Rhodes said the maggots were spotted by a member of the public.
“On further investigation, we determined the infested mango was from a large batch of fruit provided by a distributor that supplies stores in South Australia,” he said.
“All remaining product on the shelves will be removed and either fumigated or destroyed.
“I must stress this detection does not constitute an outbreak of fruit fly and the situation is being closely monitored and managed in collaboration with distributors.
“It should be noted that Jarvis fruit fly is a tropical species which is unsuited to South Australia’s climatic conditions.”
As part of further investigations, SA has suspended further consignments from the grower and will follow up with Territory officials to determine why the treatment of fruit there had failed.
Australian Associated Press