Hawaii is the only State under Federal fruit fly quarantine. By prohibiting shipment to the U.S. mainland of Hawaii-grown fresh fruits and vegetables that are fruit fly hosts, this quarantine--which protects the mainland--has stifled expansion of diversified agriculture in Hawaii for over 50 years.

But there is now an approved quarantine treatment, said Lyle Wong, who is with the Plant Industry Division of Hawaii's Department of Agriculture. It's gamma irradiation, which is safe and effective without harming taste and quality of many tropical fruits.

"Irradiation for fruit fly has been approved by USDA since 1989 as a quarantine treatment for papaya grown in Hawaii, but has not been implemented because we don't have a commercial food irradiator," Wong said. He spoke at the Conference on Methyl Bromide in San Diego.

"But this treatment offers us an opportunity to expand tropical fruit production in Hawaii. This industry is in its infancy, but the feeling is that its expansion could be worth millions of dollars of new revenue for Hawaii."

According to Wong, the Hawaii Department of Agriculture has an ongoing project to evaluate the feasibility of irradiating papaya, lychee, atemoya, rambutan, star fruit, and other exotic tropical fruits now in commercial production in Hawaii.

"Trial shipments of these fruits have been irradiated by Isomedix in Morton Grove, Illinois, and have been sold in Chicago, Indiana, and Ohio," he said. "Consumer acceptance has been excellent."

USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is proposing to change the existing rule on papaya to allow irradiation of papaya and other fruit in Hawaii as well as on the mainland. APHIS will also propose to establish a generic treatment dose for commodities that may be hosts of specific fruit flies.

"This will allow Hawaii to move any fruit and vegetable for which only fruit flies were determined to be a pest concern, to the mainland United States for retail sale after radiation treatment in Hawaii or at destination," Wong stated.

The closing of large sugar and pineapple plantations in Hawaii is making thousands of acres of prime agricultural lands available for planting tropical fruits and vegetables. Also, irradiation is a commodity treatment that can go online now.

"Getting our irradiated fruit to U.S. mainland markets has been a cooperative effort between our people here in the Hawaii Department of Agriculture and with industry, ARS, and APHIS," Wong said. "It is our objective to have a treatment facility in Hawaii, probably on the Island of Oahu, which would serve agriculture statewide. Irradiating fruit here, before export, opens new U.S., as well as foreign, markets for our growers."