Federal agriculture officials, in cooperation with Louisiana agriculture officials, have established a federal quarantine area for huanglongbing (HLB; citrus greening), caused by Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, in all of Saint Charles Parish in Louisiana.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS) took the action in cooperation with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF). The action was taken because of HLB detections in plant tissue samples collected in multiple locations during routine surveys in Louisiana.
This update expands the federal quarantine areas in Louisiana. It does not affect the state-level quarantine areas or the regulatory requirements for any stakeholders in Louisiana. LDAF established the intrastate quarantine on April 20, 2022. The federal and state HLB quarantine areas in Louisiana are now parallel.
USDA APHIS is applying safeguarding measures on the interstate movement of regulated articles from the quarantined areas in Saint Charles Parish. These measures parallel the intrastate quarantine that LDAF established. This action is necessary to prevent the spread of HLB to non-infested areas of the United States.
The establishment of this quarantine area is reflected on the APHIS citrus greening webpage, which also contains descriptions of all the current federal HLB quarantine areas. APHIS will publish a notice in the Federal Register.
Additional information is available from Shailaja Rabindran, APHIS director of specialty crops and cotton pests. Call 301-851-2167 or email Shailaja.Rabindran@usda.gov.
Learn more from LDAF about the history of HLB in Louisiana.
Source: USDA APHIS