A quarantine problem in the citrus industry within the other states will probably slow down fruit donations in Phoenix food banks. St. Mary's Food Alliance and United Food Bank in Mesa stopped taking in citrus donations due to the quarantine problem that is in effect as announced by the Arizona Agriculture department, according to Yahoo! News. St. Mary's Food Alliance and United Food Bank are the primary citrus donation charity organizations in Phoenix.
According to state authorities, there is a need to stop the toxicity of an Asian citrus psyllid.
Yahoo! News described the citrus psyllid as, "a tiny bug that can transmit citrus greening disease, which can kill citrus trees." The bug also has a name referred to as Huanglongbing. The bug is not known to be toxic to humans and animals.
Agriculture authorities in Arizona have issued an advisory as to the ban of sending and receiving of citrus fruits, leaves and plants in and out of county and state borders.
Usually, St. Mary's Food Alliance gets 3 million pounds citrus fruits annually. St. Mary's spokesman, Jerry Brown said, however:
"This current pest will likely cause a 30 to 35 percent drop."
Food bank authorities have to fetch fruits themselves to avoid the epidemic. As for the volunteers helping to fetch the fruits, Brown only had this to say:
"We have to establish a chain of custody,"
"No matter how many volunteers we have, we're not going to be able to pick as much as fruit as the people who bring it to us."
According to Sergio Paris, there were some fruits donated to low-key organizations, such as the Boys and Girls Clubs. Citrus greening disorder causes fruit on a toxic tree bitter and misshapen. The tree passes away, in turn, in a few years' time. Florida and Texas also suffered from this citrus epidemic, according to Yahoo! News.
