Biosecurity New Zealand has now placed legal controls on the movement of fruit and vegetables in Papatoetoe.

The move follows the detection of a single male Oriental fruit fly in a surveillance trap in the area. To date, no other flies have been found in surveillance traps.

Biosecurity New Zealand staff are busy in the area today laying more traps and giving out information to households.

Rules now in place prohibit moving fruit and vegetables out of a specified controlled area around where the fruit fly was found. The controlled area has two zones – A and B. Zone A is a 200m zone, with 198 properties. Zone B covers a 1500m area, with 5,470 properties.

A detailed map of the controlled area and a full description of the boundaries and rules in place is available here.

Zone A

No whole fresh fruit and vegetables, except for leafy vegetables and soil free root vegetables, can be moved outside Zone A. This applies to all produce, regardless of whether it was bought or grown.

Zone B

All fruit and vegetables grown within Zone B cannot be moved out of the controlled area.

These legal controls are an important precaution while we investigate whether there are any further fruit flies present in the area. Should there be any more flies out there, this will help prevent their spread out of the area.

It is likely the restrictions will be in place for at least two weeks.

Signs will also be put in place notifying people of the restrictions and marking the controlled area boundaries.

Detail about the controlled area

Zone A

No fruit and vegetables (other than leafy or soil free root vegetables and cooked, processed, preserved, dried, frozen and canned fruit) can be moved from Zone A of the controlled area.

Compost and green waste from gardens also cannot be moved out of this zone.

Residents in Zone A are asked to avoid composting fruit and vegetables. To dispose of fruit and vegetable waste, use a sink waste disposal unit if available, or bins provided by Biosecurity New Zealand. These bins will be delivered shortly, and residents advised of their location.

Zone B

No fruit and vegetables grown in the Zone B can be moved out of the controlled area. You are free to move commercially purchased fruit and vegetables (e.g. fruit and vegetables brought at the supermarket) out of the area. Home grown produce waste and garden waste needs to be disposed of in Biosecurity New Zealand bins.

• Read the 3 January update here.
• Read more about Oriental fruit flies on the KVH website here – including images.
• Read more about the detection and response activities on the Biosecurity New Zealand website here.