NZ bug found in Europe

Australian apple growers claim that a discovery of the New Zealand wheat bug in Holland and Belgium raises new questions about the risks posed by New Zealand apples exported across the Tasman.

Biosecurity Australia is considering 34 submissions on the most recent proposal to allow New Zealand apples into Australia.

But Darral Ashton, chairman of a grower lobby opposed to access, Apple and Pear Australia, said that because the wheat bug was endemic in New Zealand it should be given greater consideration as a biosecurity risk.

"News out of Belgium and Holland is that that wheat bug has been found and they are saying it arrived hitchhiking on New Zealand apples or packaging," he said.

The bug, Nysius huttoni, was found in Europe four years ago after a retired Dutch scientist reported it occurring in the extreme southwest of Holland and the adjacent northwestern part of Belgium - the first time it had been found outside New Zealand.

European researchers said last year that "N. huttoni is reported as being a contaminating pest often found on apple fruit packages exported from New Zealand", and that the Belgian port of Antwerp was close to the infested sites. Antwerp has been a major destination for New Zealand pipfruit and kiwifruit shipments.

During the worst outbreak in New Zealand, in 1970, about 10,000 tonnes of wheat were damaged.

- NZPA