In a press release by the United States Department of Agriculture, the organization announced that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) expanded the Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata; Medfly) quarantine in Alameda and Santa Clara Counties, California on October 17, 2024, and again on October 23.

The expansions are in response to the confirmed detections between October 7 and 15 of 22 wild female Medflies, 14 of them mated, and 12 wild male Medflies, from traps in trees in residential areas.

APHIS and CDFA established the quarantine on September 6, following the detection of a mated wild female Medfly in the city of Fremont in Alameda County on August 28, from a trap in an orange tree in a residential area, and expanded the quarantine on September 11, following the detections of additional flies.

After the latest detections, the quarantine area increased by 38 square miles to 121 square miles. There are 54 acres of commercial agriculture, including wine grape, olive, avocado, tomato, pepper, and eggplant, in the quarantine area.

APHIS says they're applying safeguarding measures and restrictions on the interstate movement of regulated articles to prevent the spread of Medfly to non-infested areas of the United States and to prevent the entry of these fruit flies into foreign trade.

Both APHIS and CDFA are working in conjunction with the Agricultural Commissioners of Alameda and Santa Clara Counties to respond to these detections following program guidelines for survey, treatment, and regulatory actions.