Illegal produce seizures rise at international airports

The biggest illegal imports seized from airline passengers was seafood, followed by meat, fruit and seeds.

Although Sydney airport saw just a one per cent increase in seizures from incoming international passengers, illegal produce seizures in Australia increased by six per cent in 2016.

Head of biosecurity operations at the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, Nico Padovan, said the results at Sydney airport bucked a national trend that saw an average rise of 6 per cent across the nation. This had been despite about an 8.8 per cent increase in passenger numbers at Sydney airport.

“Sydney passengers are clearly getting the message that biosecurity is important, and that’s great news for the nation,” Mr Padovan said.

“But despite an overall reduction in the amount of seizures, some concerning trends emerged in 2016—people need to consider what they are risking when they pack their suitcases.

“We’ve seen an increase of almost 16 per cent in the volume of seafood products seized at the airport in   2016. That places Sydney’s iconic harbour and beaches, our marine environment and Australia’s $3 billion fisheries and aquaculture industries at risk.

“And the volume of apples and pears has risen 14 per cent—just one apple, even one handed out on an international flight, could carry fruit flies into the country.

“The introduction of exotic fruit flies could cripple our $556 million apple industry through reduced market access, reduced farm profits and increased production costs.”

Biosecurity seizures at Sydney International Airport in 2016 included:

•             7,595 kg of seafood, a 16% increase from 2015.                 

•             16,658 kg of meat, an 8% increase from 2015.

•             3,676 kg of apples and pears, a 14% increase from 2015.               

•             2,907 kg of seeds, a 28% increase from 2015.

“Across Australia 273,000 items of biosecurity concern were seized in 2016, up by more than 6 per cent from 2015,” said Mr Padovan.

In 2016 4.1 million international passengers were screened by biosecurity officers at Australian Airports.