Tighter biosecurity on Australian passengers following fruit fly threat

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has tightened biosecurity screening on incoming passengers from Australia due to a recent outbreak of Mediterranean fruit fly in Adelaide.

Arriving passengers may be greeted by detector dogs as soon as they step off the plane under the strict new measures.

The use of dogs at the arrival gate allows greater scrutiny of hand luggage – the most likely source of fruit and other risk items that could harbour fruit fly. In the past, passengers would not have come across a biosecurity detector dog until they had passed through customs.

A quarantine zone has been imposed in Adelaide following the discovery of the Med-fly in locally-grown peaches.