Widespread Quarantine Takes Aim at Medflies

State agriculture officials announced a produce quarantine Thursday for a 62-square-mile area of the San Fernando Valley to fight a Mediterranean fruit fly infestation discovered last week.

People living in the quarantine area are barred from removing home-grown fruit and garden vegetables from the area and from moving such produce within the zone. Communities affected include parts of Chatsworth, Canoga Park, Reseda, Tarzana, Encino, Van Nuys, Granada Hills, Mission Hills and Northridge.

The quarantine, which begins immediately, also prohibits the sale of fruits and vegetables from street and pushcart vendors. Grocery stores and fruit and vegetable stands whose suppliers treat the food with pesticide will be allowed to continue selling produce.

“By moving fruit out of that quarantine area, you may be moving Medfly,” said Gera Curry, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Food and Agriculture. “The whole point of this is to make sure anything that moves is safe.”

The quarantine is one of a series of steps being taken to fight a Medfly infestation discovered in Northridge last week. The state aerially sprayed the pesticide malathion over a 16-square-mile area Monday. Ground crews also have been spraying by hand.

The quarantine was imposed on a much larger area than that which had been sprayed aerially to help ensure that fertile female Medflies are less likely to escape to nearby areas, officials said.

Next week, state and county officials plan to begin releasing millions of sterile, male Medflies into the area, which they hope will drastically reduce the chances of the fertile female Medflies laying eggs.

The quarantine is expected to last until early November, although agriculture officials said it could end as early as late August if officials determine the infestation is eradicated.

A slightly larger Medfly infestation last July in eastern Los Angeles County led to a five-month, 110-square-mile quarantine.

Residents living in the quarantine zone will be able to buy fruit from supermarkets and from stands supplied by commercial growers who have treated it with pesticide, Curry said. There are no restrictions on bringing produce into the zone.

About 40 small truck farms and nurseries will be allowed to continue selling produce but only after county officials have inspected it, Curry said. The county may require pesticide treatment if necessary, she said, and nurseries may be required to strip fruit from trees before sale. No major growers operate in the area.

Street sales of fruit will be banned because “we have no idea where that stuff comes from,” Curry said. “Sitting out there in an open pushcart, they could also be infected by Medfly eggs.”

Agriculture inspectors will issue a single warning to street vendors found selling produce before imposing sanctions, Curry said. Officials have posted signs designating restricted areas during previous quarantines and similar signs might be posted in the Valley, she said.

William Edwards, chief deputy of the Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner’s office, said he wanted to emphasize that the quarantine prohibits such common activities as residents bringing home-grown produce to their place of work.

Ignoring the restrictions is a misdemeanor violation of state law. Anyone found to have spread the infestation also could be fined up to $25,000, Curry said.

Sean Lee, manager of Sherman Way Farm in Reseda, said he was awaiting more information about the quarantine. “I can’t see any impact from that, but maybe,” he said. “I’m not sure.”

Female Medflies can lay eggs in more than 250 varieties of fruits and vegetables, most notably citrus fruits. When the eggs hatch, the produce is destroyed by the larvae. The state’s most serious infestation cost $97.6 million in eradication efforts from 1980 to 1982.