ABSTRACT
The challenge of research on postharvest quarantine treatments is that the treatment must not only be effective against virtually all of the pest individuals present, but also minimize damage to the commodity being treated. Hot water immersion is another treatment worth consideration for any new quarantine problem. It has been successfully utilized to disinfest mangoes of fruit flies throughout Latin America. A non-host protocol establishes, after exhaustive research, that a commodity that was considered to be a possible host of a quarantined pest is, in fact, virtually immune to the pest, at least up to the point of commercial harvest, and requires no postharvest treatment or pest monitoring. Coatings and shrink wrap seem to have similar modes of action as controlled atmosphere quarantine treatments. Combinations of individual quarantine treatments deserve further study; methyl bromide fumigation and cold storage are used for many fruits and fruit fly species.
