THE two-year battle against fruit fly in metropolitan Adelaide is officially over with the successful eradication of the last outbreak at Ridleyton.
Residents across Adelaide can once again freely move fruit from their properties after the government and community have successfully eradicated 12 outbreaks over the past two years.
SA primary industries minister David Basham thanked the SA public for their cooperation.
"From the north to the south and from beach to the hills, this has been a significant operation right across metropolitan Adelaide to eradicate Mediterranean and Queensland fruit fly outbreaks," Mr Basham said.
"This is by far the largest successful fruit fly eradication campaign ever delivered in Australia.
"This means Adelaide residents can once again move fruit and vegetables from their property which will be a huge relief to many and I thank everyone for following the rules and doing the right thing.
"The two-year battle has seen dedicated orange overall-wearing fruit fly officers going door-to-door right across metropolitan Adelaide undertaking baiting and checking fruit."
Mr Basham said since 2019 around 350 staff were employed at the peak of the response to eradicate fruit fly, visiting nearly 200,000 homes and properties and releasing nearly 700 million sterile flies.
"By working together as a community, we have protected our local $1.3 billion fresh fruit industry vulnerable to fruit fly and the thousands of jobs the sector supports," he said.
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"There are still Qld fruit fly outbreaks affecting the Riverland so I ask those living in those areas as well as the surrounding region to carefully check the map on the fruit fly website.
"Those within the red outbreak zone still can't move fruit and vegetables from their properties but those within the yellow areas can.
"Make sure you don't move fruit out of a yellow area into a green."
He said everyone must continue to be vigilant and keep their gardens tidy to prevent fruit fly in the future.
"I urge everyone to pick fruit once ripe, collect fallen fruit, check fruit for maggots, and call the Fruit Fly Hotline on 1300 666 010 if you see anything suspicious," he said.
"To prevent future fruit fly outbreaks the Marshall Liberal Government will maintain the zero-tolerance approach at the Yamba border checkpoint and random roadside inspections, with heavy fines for travellers caught bringing prohibited fruit into SA or the Riverland."
The fruit fly outbreaks successfully eradicated in Adelaide are Angle Park, Black Forest, Blair Athol, Campbelltown, Croydon Park, Klemzig, Marleston, Pooraka, Ridleyton, Rosewater, Semaphore Park and Warradale.
Providing there are no further detections, the Qld fruit fly outbreaks in Pike River and Renmark West are due to end on May 6 2022.
- Details: fruitfly.sa.gov.au
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