Officials Renew Warning as Medfly Season Nears

Bugged by the prospect of another Medfly infestation this summer, agriculture officials Wednesday cautioned Angelenos who live in the Medfly quarantine area not to take home-grown fruit off their property.

“Consume it, can it, freeze it, jam it,” said Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner Leon Spaugy at a news conference.

Emphasizing that even those who live in the Mediterranean fruit fly quarantine area should not transport home-grown fruit within the 553-square-mile zone, Spaugy said: “We want to encourage residents not to take (fruit) to Aunt Millie’s up the hill or next door. We want to encourage folks not to take it out of their back yard.”

Those who have more fruit than they can eat should put it in double plastic bags and then put it in the trash, Spaugy added.

Because they are not deft fliers, Medflies travel mainly by latching onto fruit and vegetables, particularly soft and ripe produce, Spaugy said.

Transporting fruit, vegetables or nuts into or out of the Medfly quarantine zone is prohibited. The zone stretches roughly from El Segundo on the west, La Canada Flintridge on the north, Walnut on the east and Long Beach on the south.

Federal, state and county officials instituted the quarantine last September after several Medflies were discovered in Pasadena. In December, after the insects turned up in Altadena, Griffith Park, Jefferson Park, Inglewood, Artesia, Pico Rivera, Covina and Walnut Park, the quarantine was expanded to cover most of Los Angeles County and parts of Orange County.

Officials say the quarantine, combined with intensive malathion ground spraying and the release of sterile Medflies, has been successful: Not a single Medfly has been found since Dec. 8, 1992.

But the insects do not seem to disappear for long. For nearly 18 years, and to the tune of $200 million, the government has tried to banish the Medfly.

This is the seventh year in a row that the county has faced a Medfly infestation, Spaugy said. The largest and costliest came in 1989 and 1990, when officials quarantined 1,300 square miles, spent more than $60 million and doused much of the Southland with malathion, sparking angry protests and hundreds of legal claims for health and property damage.