Scientific opinion on the import of fruits as a pathway for the entry of non-EU Tephritidae into the EU territory.

Following a request from the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Plant Health examined evidence as to whether the import of fruits of (bananas and plantains) could provide a pathway into the EU for (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae) or other non-EU Tephritidae for which is a host. Relevant scientific and technical information, including unpublished information provided to the EFSA Panel on Plant Health by the European Commission from research conducted in Cabo Verde, were taken into account. The majority of EU imports of fruit comes from Ecuador, Colombia and Costa Rica where does not occur. Commercial fruits are harvested at 'green stage one' before they begin to ripen naturally. Postharvest processes are designed to ensure that only high quality, unripe fruit are exported. Green stage one fruit are transported to the EU in controlled conditions and stimulated to ripen when exposed to exogenous ethylene in ripening rooms in the EU. There is no evidence that any Tephritidae can naturally infest commercial varieties of fruit at green stage one or earlier. When experimentally infested with eggs of Tephritidae, larvae fail to develop in green stage one fruit. Physical and chemical changes that occur during fruit ripening enable and 11 other species of Tephritidae to oviposit and develop in at later stages of fruit development. Reports of or other Tephritidae infesting bunches of fruit are a consequence of the fruit being left to develop beyond green stage one in the field. There is no evidence that commercially grown fruits of , for export to the EU, provide a pathway for the entry of non-EU Tephritidae. Passengers bringing fruit from countries where Tephritidae can infest ripened fruit do however provide a potential pathway for the entry of non-EU Tephritidae into the EU territory.