Commodity risk assessment of Citrus L. fruits from Israel for Thaumatotibia leucotreta under a systems approach

• Main Authors: EFSA Panel on Plant Health (PLH), Claude Bragard, Katharina Dehnen‐Schmutz, Francesco Di Serio, Paolo Gonthier, Marie‐Agnès Jacques, Josep Anton Jaques Miret, Annemarie Fejer Justesen, Alan MacLeod, Christer Sven Magnusson, Juan A Navas‐Cortes, Stephen Parnell, Roel Potting, Philippe Lucien Reignault, Hans‐Hermann Thulke, Wopke Van der Werf, Antonio Vicent Civera, Jonathan Yuen, Lucia Zappalà, Andrea Lucchi, Alejandro Tena, Olaf Mosbach‐Schulz, Eduardo de la Peña, Panagiotis Milonas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2021-03-01
• Series: EFSA Journal
• Subjects: sweet orange; mandarins; clementines; false codling moth; European Union; pests
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2021.6427
• ISSN: 1831-4732

Abstract The European Commission requested EFSA Panel on Plant Health to evaluate a dossier from Israel in which the application of the systems approach to mitigate the risk of entry of Thaumatotibia leucotreta to the EU when trading citrus fruits is described. After collecting additional evidence from the Plant Protection and Inspection Services (PPIS) of Israel, and reviewing the published literature, the Panel performed an assessment on the likelihood of pest freedom for T. leucotreta on citrus fruits at the point of entry in the EU considering the Israelian systems approach. An expert judgement is given on the likelihood of pest freedom following the evaluation of the risk mitigation measures on T. leucotreta, including any uncertainties. The Expert Knowledge Elicitation indicated, with 95% certainty that between 9,863 and 10,000 citrus fruits per 10,000 will be free from this pest. The Panel also evaluated each risk mitigation measure in the systems approach and identified any weaknesses associated with them. Specific actions are identified that could increase the efficacy of the systems approach.