APHIS Establishes a New Sweet Orange Scab Quarantined Area in California

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FOR INFORMATION AND ACTION 
DA-2025-18 
June 6, 2025 

 

Subject: APHIS Establishes a New Sweet Orange Scab Quarantined Area in California 

To: State, Tribal, and Territory Agricultural Regulatory Officials 

Effective immediately, USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), is establishing a new quarantined area for sweet orange scab (SOS), caused by the fungus Elsinöe australis, in California. APHIS is establishing a 91 square mile quarantine in the Burbank area of Los Angeles County. APHIS is taking this action because of an SOS detection in a plant tissue sample collected from a residential property in Los Angeles County. This expansion does not impact commercial citrus. 

APHIS is applying safeguarding measures on the interstate movement of regulated articles from the quarantined areas in California. These measures parallel the intrastate quarantine that CDFA established on May 29, 2025. This action is necessary to prevent the spread of SOS to non-infested areas of the United States. 

The APHIS Sweet Orange Scab website has information on this disease, Federal Orders, APHIS-approved packinghouse procedures, and a description of current Federal SOS quarantined areas. 

For additional information you may contact: 

 

/s/

Matthew A. Rhoads 
Acting Deputy Administrator 
Plant Protection and Quarantine