Beginning Monday, teams from the State Department of Food and Agriculture are going door to door in Redlands to remove citrus and other fruits that are causing a severe infestation of the Oriental fruit fly.
About 2,000 properties are targeted for this type of fruit fly.
“USDA employees, the San Bernardino County commissioner's office will be helping us, California Conservation Corps will have crews on hand, and we're also hiring professional picking contractors. And they're all coming together as a crew to go through neighborhoods, property by property, enter those properties and remove fruit,” Steve Lyle, with the department, said.
Other types of fruit flies have been a problem in other places like Santa Clarita and Ventura County.
“We have Mexican fruit flies, Mediterranean fruit flies, guava fruit flies, peach fruit flies,” Lyle said.
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He said the numbers have been increasing over the past year. The department has to get it under control to avoid a larger problem for California’s commercial food supply. Lyle said this isn’t something that property owners can refuse.
The removal process will continue until late February. Impacted residents will receive a 48-hour warning before the fruit removal.
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