Passengers arriving from Australia will face stricter biosecurity rules, following an outbreak of Mediterranean fruit fly in Adelaide.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said detector dogs would screen passengers as soon as people stepped off the plane, instead of waiting until after they went through customs.
It came as the South Australian government imposed a quarantine zone in Adelaide after discovering the fly in home-grown peaches.
A ministry spokesperson, Craig Hughes, said this would allow greater scrutiny of hand luggage, which was the most likely source of fruit and other risk items that could harbour fruit flies.
He said, over the past year, MPI had added 24 detector dog teams and 90 staff.