WASHINGTON — US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins on May 27 provided an update on the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Mexico’s joint effort to stop and pushback New World Screwworm’s (NWS) northern movement. Rollins and Secretary Berdegue spoke on the phone and discussed the threat and current actions and containment of NWS at the United States’ southern border. The USDA and Mexico work daily to ensure the necessary resources, tactics and tools are in place to effectively eradicate NWS.  

Rollins also announced the USDA invested $21 million in renovating an existing fruit fly production facility in Metapa, Mexico, to further the long-term goal of eradicating this insect. Once operational the facility will produce 60-100 million additional sterile NWS flies weekly to push the population further south in Mexico. USDA said the additional sterile NWS fly production is critical to its response relative to the geographic spread of NWS.

“Our partnership with Mexico is crucial in making this effort a success,” Rollins said. “We are continuing to work closely with Mexico to push NWS away from the United States and out of Mexico. The investment I am announcing today is one of many efforts my team is making around the clock to protect our animals, our farm economy and the security of our nation’s food supply.”

Live animal import restrictions from Mexico remain in place while the USDA will continue to evaluate the suspensions every 30 days.

The USDA and its partners have used sterile insect technique (SIT), intense surveillance and import controls for decades in an effort to eradicate and effectively combat NWS. The US-supported sterile insect production and dispersals in Mexico and Central America currently operate at full production capacity, with up to 44 flights a week releasing 100 million sterile flies. The US Commission for the Eradication and Prevention of Screwworm facility in Panama raises all the flies in use today. The Metapa, Mexico, facility renovation investment will allow the USDA to double the use of SIT.

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and its Mexican counterparts also continue to discuss the technical aspects of NWS. The USDA said phone calls and meetings are making strong progress toward enhancing surveillance in Mexico, addressing administrative or regulatory roadblocks that could impair an effective response, and ensuring appropriate animal movement controls are in place to prevent further NWS spread. A Mexican delegation met with APHIS last week in Washington regarding these efforts. In the coming weeks, a technical team from APHIS will travel to Mexico to assess the on-the-ground situation and continue working toward key goals around surveillance and animal movement.