Officials from New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) toured fruit treatment facilities in the Maharastra region of India last week.
Manager of import and export plants at MPI, Stephen Butcher, told Asiafruit that the officials inspected four vapour heat treatment facilities in India, as well as an irradiation facility in Mumbai that is currently under construction.
Butcher said that while irradiation is not an approved phytosanitary treatment for mango imports to New Zealand, the country does require all mangoes to undergo vapour heat treatment before being exported from India.
The Financial Times reports that Indian government officials from the Agricultural Processed Food Products Development Authority (Apeda), who accompanied the group, are optimistic that exports of mangoes to New Zealand could rise by as much as 60 per cent this year.
Apeda’s Dr Sudhanshu told the Financial Express that the delegation was satisfied with the treatment facilities and that 30 consignments of mangoes had already been exported to New Zealand, with more shipments expected in coming weeks.
Sudhanshu told Asiafruit in May that the current EU ban on Indian mangoes opened up opportunities for India to strengthen its food safety protocols and focus on its major mango export markets like the US, South East Asia and the Middle East.
