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Fruit fly infestation eradicated; quarantine lifted
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Fruit fly infestation eradicated; quarantine lifted
Fruit fly infestation eradicated; quarantine lifted
State agriculture officials today lifted a local quarantine of fruits and vegetables after quashing a fruit fly infestation.
In response to a Mexican fruit fly infestation, California agriculture watchdogs declared a 70-square-mile quarantine last year in the Los Angeles County suburb of Azuza. The Department of Food and Agriculture announced that it’s effectively eliminated the pests and that the state is free of fruit fly infestations.
California has spent more than 30 years and millions of dollars battling the crop-threatening Mexican, Mediterranean and Oriental fruit flies. The four worst infestations occurred between 1960 and 1997. Eradication programs to protect the state’s multi-billion dollar agricultural industry have included quarantines, chemical spraying, and species sterilization.
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