Turf QLD Industry Alert |Border Finds – Another Succulent Find for Our Biosecurity Officers

Border Finds – Another Succulent Find for Our Biosecurity Officers

See how this could affect the turf production industry if it was grass seeds.

Two consignments containing packets labelled as fries had a crisp ending after being intercepted by biosecurity officers at the Melbourne Gateway Facility.

On inspection, officers found the packages contained 14 cacti and succulents (roots and all) craftily concealed in the packets of fries.

Arriving from Korea, these prickly consignments were detected by x-ray and detector dog — the department has now intercepted 122 live plant consignments this year.

Our biosecurity officers regularly intercept international mail parcels containing prohibited live plants. Consignments are often purchased by individuals online from sellers based overseas and can be contaminated with soil and, in some cases, plant based fungal diseases.

Live plants can contain high-risk pathogens and nematodes and sellers can be unaware of Australian import requirements for live plants under the Biosecurity Act 2015.

The department is working closely with eBay and other online stores to educate overseas sellers of Australia’s biosecurity regulations. Australia’s biosecurity legislation provides for criminal and civil offences where goods such as live plants have been deliberately imported into Australia in contravention of biosecurity requirements.

The goods were destroyed as there was no import permit provided for the live plants. The related investigation resulted in a letter of advice being issued.