OTTAWA, August 18, 2006 - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has
detected apple maggot in several locations all within the Abbotsford, B.C. area.
The CFIA discovered the pest during regular survey activities.
All of the findings of apple maggot are very localized and are within a few
kilometres of each other. There has been no detection of apple maggot in the
prime apple growing regions in the interior of the province.
The apple maggot (Rhagoletis pomonella) is a fly which, in its larval
stage, damages apples and other fruit by tunnelling through them. The principal
hosts of apple maggot are apple, crabapple and hawthorn trees, however it also
occasionally attacks plum, cherry, peach and pear trees. It poses no threat to
human health.
Apple maggot is a quarantine pest in Canada and, until these findings,
British Columbia has been completely free of the pest. It is found throughout
the rest of Canada (except Newfoundland) and is widespread in the U.S. as well.
Last year, U.S. officials detected apple maggot in Washington State just across
the border from B.C.
The CFIA has immediately expanded the survey for apple maggot in B.C. for the
rest of the apple growing season. The Agency is also consulting with the
Province of British Columbia and affected stakeholders and industry groups to
determine the most appropriate response measures to prevent the spread of this
pest into the rest of B.C..
To help prevent the spread of apple maggot to other parts of B.C., please
contact the CFIA at 604- 557-4500 if you are planning to move apples, apple
trees or other host plants with soil, or nursery stock of apple, crabapple or
hawthorn, out of the Abbotsford area.
Owners of apple trees should pick up any fallen apples and dispose of them in
municipal garbage (they should not be composted), as this will reduce the spread
of the apple maggot by preventing the maggots from entering the soil and
completing their life cycle.
For more information on apple maggot, please visit the web site of the
B.C. Ministry of
Agriculture and Lands at www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/applemaggot.htm and the
CFIA web site at http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/sci/surv/data/rhapome.shtml
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CFIA Media Relations
604-666-1357 - Vancouver
613-228-6682 - Ottawa
Main Page - Apple
Maggot
