Five pounds of fresh cherries infested with live European cherry fruit fly maggots and pupae were intercepted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
Local customs and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials identified the specimens found on June 19 as European cherry fruit fly, and a specialist at the Systemic Entomology Laboratory confirmed identification in July, according to a CBP news release.
The traveler was arriving from Romania and destined for Fish Creek, Wisconsin, which is recognized as a major tart cherry-producing region, according to CBP.
“This was an excellent interception by our agriculture specialists,” Port Director Fadia Pastilong said in the news release. “This pest can pose a major threat to cherry orchards in the Midwest.”
Michigan is known for its cherries and grows 70% of of the United States’ supply of tart cherries.
The fly is found throughout Europe and in parts of west and central Asia, and it can spread to new areas through the transport of infested fresh cherries, soil or fruit from host plants, according to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
“Larvae rasp at fruit with their hook-like mandibles as they feed, and this causes damage and rot that renders the fruit unmarketable,” according to the CBP news release.
It was first confirmed in North America in Ontario in 2016, and it was first detected in the United States in Niagara County, New York, according to the USDA.
Several counties in New York are now under quarantine to stop the spread of the “cherry chomping pest,” according to the CBP.
The CBP said increased pesticide use is necessary once flies are introduced and the fly’s ability to utilize honeysuckle, dogwood, and barberry, as well as cherries, to complete its life cycle complicates control efforts.
CBP said travelers should declare all food and plant items upon arrival to the United States to help stop the spread of exotic pests and diseases.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 5 pounds of cherries infested with fly maggots, pupae intercepted at Detroit Metro Airport
Reporting by Natalie Davies, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
