Beware of Fruit Flies

Washington State works diligently to guard against invasive pests that might attack fruit like the maggot.

Eduardo Varona with APHIS said the same level of diligence must be used if you are in fruit fly areas, particularly because the flies are so small, you won’t see them.

“Now what you might see is damage to the fruit, or if you were to cut the fruit open, you might see the larvae infesting the fruit inside.”

That’s why it’s critical to not take any sort of agricultural product from areas where there are quarantines in place, because the damage isn’t always visible.

Varona noted, “Just because it looks like it’s clean on the outside doesn’t mean that it is. It’s very possible that this piece of foreign fruit or a piece of fruit from Hawaii that you’re bringing back to the mainland could have the fruit fly inside, or the larvae, and you might not even be aware of it.”

For more information, visit HungryPests.com.