Feds discover destructive pest at Camden port
Customs officials inspecting a large shipment of citrus at the Port of Philadelphia in Camden recently discovered the presence of Mediterranean fruit flies, "one of the world's most destructive agricultural pests," the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Thursday.
The discovery was made Dec. 14 during a routine examination of 105,000 crates of clementines, a popular fruit similar to tangerines, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
A DHS spokesman said that the shipment had come from Morocco and that officials of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), an agency of DHS, quarantined all of it.
"This is an extremely important find," Kevin Donohue, acting director of the Port of Philadelphia, said in a statement. Called "medflies" for short, the species has been responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in crop damage around the world.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20161230_Feds_discover_destructive_pest_at_Camden_port.html
