Biosecurity for Market Access | May 2024

All who work in the biosecurity and market access field understand the complex balancing act of enabling trade while preventing the spread of pests and disease. Part of the challenge is to consider all factors that influence whether items for trade pose biosecurity risks in receiving markets and how the risk may be mitigated.

Our team at CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, has developed a freely available model that allows industry and regulators to systematically assess these factors and find the best options for managing biosecurity risks.

The Pest Risk Reduction Scenario Tool – or PRReSTo – is available online through our Phytosanitary Risk Science website.

Quantifying risk reduction

In our first science update, we introduced our Risk Framework and Menu of Measures which classify phytosanitary measures based on how they reduce risk. This is an essential first step towards quantifying the effect of mitigation measures.

Until now, it has been difficult to estimate the biosecurity risks of horticultural trade and evaluate the impacts of risk-reducing measures – particularly when combinations of measures are proposed. For example, how many measures will be needed to manage a risk, and how effective do they each need to be?

PRReSTo addresses this gap. The tool can be used within the pest risk analysis process to assess the background factors that contribute to pest importation risk (the level of pest exposure in the field, the vulnerability of the host, and the likely pest infestation rate), and then evaluate how various phytosanitary measures may act – individually or in combination – to reduce that risk.

PRReSTo quantifies biosecurity risk by calculating the likely percentage of fruit in a consignment that may be infested with pests. The likelihood that the pest would be detected by various inspection options can also be assessed. Risk reducing measures and inspection methods can be compared and adjusted in the scenario model until – hey PRReSTo! – the acceptable risk level for a target market is achieved.

The modelling tool was developed for trappable pests of horticulture, and the current version estimates infestation rate upon entry. However, we are working on an establishment risk module, and to extend the tool to other commodities, carriers and pest types.

We think PRReSTo can make a significant contribution to designing more efficient and effective market access arrangements. The tool can help regulators better understand the risk and to then set entry conditions that are better calibrated to it. This may enable industry to operate under risk mitigation measures that are more targeted and less trade-restrictive.

Please contact us if you would like a demonstration of PRReSTo or to discuss potential applications.

Collaborating to strengthen the science that supports biosecurity and market access

Our researchers collaborate closely with scientists around the world as well as partners from agricultural industries, the ag-tech sector and governments, with valuable support from Hort Innovation. In April, we participated in the Commission for Phytosanitary Measures conference in Rome, sharing the Risk Framework and PRReSTo model through a keynote address to the scientific session on systems approaches.

Through these updates, we hope to build a stronger community interested in advancing the science needed to support biosecure trade. In the next few months, we will share more about our research, including:

• Non-destructive pest-detection technologies such as optical scanning and x-ray for detecting plant pests in fresh fruit and other agricultural produce
• The Biosecurity Risk Calculator, a tool to quantify pest mortality through storage and transport within cool chains
• Models to support site-based pest surveillance and fruit inspection as phytosanitary measures

We welcome any feedback about our research, or to hear about your work in this field. Please feel free to share this with your colleagues. You can subscribe to these updates or contact our team at phytoriskscience@csiro.au

CSIRO’s Dr Rieks van Klinken presenting a keynote address as part of the scientific session held at the Commission of Phytosanitary Measures in Rome (CPM-18) in April