Developing a national systems approach for meeting biosecurity requirements to access key Asian Markets

Currently, most horticultural trade of hosts of important pests (such as fruit fly) rely on exporters demonstrating that the commodity comes from an area that is free of pests and diseases (area freedom) or applying an agreed, stringent end-point treatment. Such end-point treatments are often costly, can negatively impact quality, and may often be avoidable if other risk mitigation factors were accepted by importing countries. This national project is a collaboration between industry, researchers and regulators that will help Australian horticultural enterprises realise market opportunities in Australia and Asia by developing a quantitative systems approach that will be acceptable to regulators, and providing the supporting information necessary to help industries evaluate and adopt systems approaches.