The core business of NWC is the operation of its four High Temperature Forced Air (HTFA) Chambers which provide the mandatory quarantine treatment for fresh exports of papaya, eggplant, breadfruit and mango.
The NWC High Temperature Forced Air (HTFA) quarantine treatment was developed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) solely for the control of fruit flies in selected tropical fruits. The treatment is not designed or proven to control any other insect or disease pests. The HTFA treatment protocols in use by NWC have been agreed to with our trading partners in NZ (papaya, eggplant, mango and breadfruit) and Australia (papaya) under the Bilateral Quarantine agreement (BQA). The HTFA treatment is carried out in accordance with an approved BQA manual and under the supervision of the Biosecurity Authority of Fiji (BAF). The computer software supporting our HTFA treatment is supplied and certified by Quarantine Technologies International (New Zealand).The HTFA treatment at NWC has been in operation since 1996 and has never had a live interception of fruit fly in any export consignment.
The HTFA treatment has been proven to not have an adverse impact on fruit quality provided the fruit that is supplied is of high quality and disease free. High quality fruit has been treated and exported through NWC for 20 years with no adverse impacts on quality.
NWC offers its treatment and packing services to exporters at a rate of $0.72 per kg. This rate has been calculated based on direct costs (gas, electricity, water, labour), a percentage of fixed indirect costs (machine maintenance, management, lease rental, phone, internet, office expenses) and small ‘profit’ for investment and “rainy day” provisions for such things as natural disasters.
