Menu of measures

This menu has been developed to help industry and regulators explore available options for reducing plant biosecurity risks arising from cross-border trade. When preparing entry conditions or market access protocols, it is helpful to start by considering risk reducing measures that are already used and accepted in existing trade arrangements.

To develop this menu, we conducted a comprehensive international literature review. We found over 1800 measures mentioned in existing protocols or studies to reduce biosecurity risks associated with trade of fruits, vegetables, cut flowers, plant products, timber products, as well as transport vectors such as packing materials and shipping containers.

We distilled these down to 39 unique measures that reduce risk in one of four ways. The measures may be applied during production, post-production or post-border. This animation provides an overview of the risk framework and menu of measures.

Here’s a simple summary of the 39 risk reducing measures, organised within the risk framework.

Trade arrangements often draw on a limited set of phytosanitary measures, such as end point disinfestation treatments. The menu helps to demonstrate there is a much wider range of options that can be considered.

The menu of measures has recently been published in the journal, Biological Invasions.

The paper notes that further measures could be developed, particularly through harnessing commercial practices and technologies that reduce biosecurity risks and that are commonly used in production systems and supply chains. The science-based tools available on this site can be applied to support on-going development and innovation for phytosanitary risk management.

The menu of measures resource

We are currently working with biosecurity specialists in Australia to develop a comprehensive resource that provides details about each of the 39 phytosanitary risk reducing measures in the menu. The Menu of Measures Resource provides:

• An overview of each category of measures
• A description of each specific measure
• The evidence that may be required to demonstrate the efficacy of the measures
• How the measure may be certified
• How the measure is typically used
• How measures may relate to others

The information in the Menu resource may be useful at both the pest risk analysis stage and the pest risk management (protocol building) stage in the biosecurity trade risk management process. The resource aims to help industry and biosecurity stakeholders consider:

• Is there sufficient, robust data available to include a measure within a pest risk analysis or market access protocol?
• Would certification be feasible?
• What measures might work together most effectively?

The Menu of Measures resource has been drafted drawing from the findings from our literature review. The draft resource is now being reviewed by biosecurity specialists in Australian Commonwealth and state governments and will be further refined from their feedback during 2023.