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November 2001. Niue is considering importing mangoes from Cook Islands without heat treatment and asked about the risks. Here are the answers:
Mangoes from Cook Islands would expose Niue to infestation of Bactrocera melanotus, a species endemic to Cook Islands. The country already has three fruit flies, and it was thought that it might not want a fourth. B. melanotus, attacks several crops including: Carica papaya, Citrus sp., Inocarpus fagifer, Mangifera indica, Persea americana, Psidium guajava, Syzygium malaccense, Terminalia catappa. It’s entry would jeoprise the export of fruit from Niue at a later time.
For more information on host range of this fruit fly species, consult:
http://www.spc.int/pacifly/Species_profiles/B_melanotus_hosts.htm
Niue should also consider that importations might spread the mango seed weevil, which is not yet present in Niue. (Note, its presence in Cook Islands was questioned). Further, a search of CABI Crop Protection Compendium indicates that the following are potential quarantine pests of mango:
Aleurodicus dispersus (whitefly)
Bactrocera melanotus
Ceroplastes ceriferus (Indian wax scale)
Ferrisia virgata (striped mealybug)
Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis (black tea thrips)
However, all except B melanotus would be able to be seen by inspection.
The mangoes should be subject to a quarantine treatment such as Forced Hot Air. The treatment may consist of raising the fruit centre temperature to 47.2??C and holding the fruits at that temperature for 20 minutes before hydro-cooling. There is a very workable quarantine pathway and treatment protocol for mangoes available from Fiji Islands, which could be used as a framework for importation of mangoes into Niue. The risk of introducing Bactrocera melanotus in untreated mangoes would be quite high.
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