Legal controls on the movement of fruit and vegetables in Mt Roskill will end 21 February if no more Queensland fruit flies (QFF) are found in the suburb.

The controls have been in place since the discovery of a single male QFF in a surveillance trap in early January.

No other QFF have been found, which is encouraging, but over the coming weeks regular checking of fruit fly traps will continue, as will collection and testing of fruit and vegetables within the controlled areas.

The extended timeframe helps us to be confident that we are not dealing with a breeding population.

There is no change to the current movement rules that are in place. The A and B zone areas in Mt Roskill will remain the same. More detail on these zones is on the Biosecurity New Zealand website here.

There have been 14 previous fruit fly incursions in New Zealand which we have successfully eradicated, so we know what it takes to get the job done.

More information about the response and exotic fruit flies is available on our KVH response webpage here.