Is Moringa oleifera Lam. safe to export to US mainland? An evaluation of insects associated with moringa in Hawai’i

Moringa trees are mainly grown in Hawaiʻi for leaf production to be consumed as food and ingredients for cosmetics, but the pods are also desirable for use in soups and stir fry. Frozen pods from Asia are currently exported to mainland US, and some growers on the island of Oʻahu already ship fresh pods to Canada. There is a growing interest in shipping fresh pods to the mainland USA, but there are current restrictions on export due to the perceived risk of tephritid fruit fly infestation. Thus, we sought to determine the presence or absence of fruit fly larvae in mature green moringa pods, Moringa oleifera Lam., in Hawai‘i. We sampled moringa pods at five commercial farms and two University of Hawaiʻi research stations on Oʻahu and one farm on Molokaʻi to determine if fruit flies infested pods. Pods were collected from seven different areas on Oʻahu monthly from October 2013 to March 2014 and once on Molokaʻi in January 2014. The pods were held at 22.2 °C for 30 days to check for insect emergence. Pods were also dissected. The results of this study indicated that moringa pods are not a tephritid fruit fly host.  Although there were some insects found on moringa pods, none were of quarantine significance. Moringa pods are a good candidate for a change in quarantine regulation that currently includes irradiation treatment.