The use of agitation sprays as part of the inspection process is being considered by the Ministry of Primary Industries and inspection organisations to avoid further cars carrying stink bugs from arriving in New Zealand.
Most used vehicles set for export to New Zealand from Japan are cleaned and inspected by commercial agents working to an MPI prescribed process and standard.
While this usually identifies biosecurity hazards from the vehicles, MPI has noted the current climate in Japan makes the bugs hide in a way near impossible to spot visually.
JEVIC New Zealand director Euan Philpot says they are working on the issue with the government agency.
JEVIC is working closely with MPI staff both in NZ and in Japan to provide solutions to deal with the current BMSB issue,” Philpot explains. “MPI have reported a spike in the detection of BMSB, noting that treatments in addition to visual inspection will assist with the detection of BMSB.”
So far this process has been used to inspect vehicles still on ships in New Zealand or on the way here. Cars are fogged with agitation sprays which ‘wake up’ the bugs.
While not all vehicles exported to New Zealand are pre-inspected, Philpot says this could help the situation, and there is capacity for the additional volume to be handled.
Automotive Technologies Limited director Nigel Grindall told AutoTalk he does not feel the process has failed, and that while the stink bug was considered a high-risk organism, it was not considered a high threat – so no specific process other than visual inspection was in place to find it.
He says in the same way as the Asian gypsy moth is handled, additional checks could be put in place for the short window in which the bugs hibernate – which ends in April.
“We need to figure out a process we can use to identify the stink bug,” he notes. “It could be the use of agitation sprays, it could be a heat gun, or we could get more aggressive with the video scope.”
He suspects the only long-term solution during the bug season could be heat treatment of vehicles.
