Official Pest Report

Official Pest Reports are provided by National Plant Protection Organizations within the NAPPO region. These Pest Reports are intended to comply with the International Plant Protection Convention's Standard on Pest Reporting, endorsed by the Interim Commission on Phytosanitary Measures in March 2002.

APHIS Expands the Sweet Orange Scab Quarantined Area in California

Country: United States

Title:

APHIS Expands the Sweet Orange Scab Quarantined Area in California

Contact:
Abby R. Stilwell, National Policy Manager, at (919) 323-6296 or abby.r.stilwell@usda.gov and Daniel Murphy, Assistant National Policy Manager, at (775) 221-9237 or daniel.m.murphy@usda.gov.

Report:

Effective immediately, the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), is expanding the areas quarantined for sweet orange scab (SOS), caused by the fungus Elsinöe australis, in California. APHIS is expanding the quarantined area in Riverside County by 5.67 square miles. APHIS is taking this action because of SOS detections in plant tissue samples collected from residential properties in Riverside County. There is no commercial citrus impacted by this expansion.

APHIS is applying safeguarding measures on the interstate movement of regulated articles from the quarantined areas in California. These measures parallel the intrastate quarantines that CDFA established on May 28, 2024. This action is necessary to prevent the spread of SOS to non‑infested areas of the United States.

The specific changes to the quarantined areas in California can be found on the APHIS sweet orange scab website.

Under IPPC Standards, Elsinoë australis, the fungal causal agent of sweet orange scab, is a pest that is present: not widely distributed and under official control  in the United States.

Posted Date: Sept. 13, 2024, 4:10 p.m.