State officials are imposing a quarantine on fresh fruits and vegetables in parts of Pinellas County, after the recent discovery of the Oriental Fruit Fly, which can lay its eggs inside any one of 430 different fruits, making them unmarketable.
While this may spark memories of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly invasion, State Agriculture Department's Dr. Trevor Smith says the treatment they're planning is nothing like what officials did back in 1997. "We don't use malathion any more," Smith said. "We actually have an organic product called GF-120. It's a bait spray. The males will fly into that, eat it and die. So essentially, you're killing every male in the population so the females have no one to breed with."
Still, homeowners in St. Petersburg and Pinellas Park are advised not to move fresh fruit and vegetables off their property, and to dispose of any produce on the ground.
A spokesperson says there are no particular health consequences to eating fruit infected with the larvae, but it would be.....unpleasant.
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