Biosecurity Australia has released the draft of its import risk analysis of Chinese table grapes, and will now invite stakeholders to comment on the report until 21 April.
The analysis began on 18 August 2008, and has indentified 19 pests that will require quarantine measures, with two of them sanitary pests.
The identified quarantine pests are kanzawa spider mite, harlequin ladybird, Japanese beetle, Oriental fruit fly, grape whitefly, grapevine phylloxera, mealybugs (three species), thrips (two species), grape cluster black rot, bitter rot, black rot, spike stalk brown spot, brown rot and grapevine leaf rust.
The sanitary pests identified, or those considered harmful to human health, were the black widow spider and the European black widow spider.
The draft also outlined measures quarantine authorities would have to implement to guard against the potential threats, such as cold treatment for Oriental fruit fly.
Phylloxera could be dealt with by sulphur treatment or pre-shipment fumigation with sulphur dioxide or carbon dioxide, while fumigation could also be used to prevent venomous black widow spiders.
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