India warns air passengers not to carry mangoes

India warns air passengers not to carry mangoes
30 Aug, 2007, 1529 hrs IST, AGENCIES

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday warned nationals flying to Japan and the US not to carry mangoes in their baggage because of newly-approved export rules for the golden fruit.

India's food export authority said the US Food and Drug Administration had reported instances of Indians carrying "mangoes as personal baggage."

The practice violates an agreement between New Delhi and Washington that "only pre-cleared and certified commercial consignments of irradiated mangoes are allowed to enter the United States," a statement said.

"Similarly, as per the agreement between India and Japan, only pre-cleared and certified mangoes are allowed," it said.

India, the world's largest producer of mangoes, began exporting the fruit to the United States in April this year following years of lobbying to overturn a 1989 ban linked to fears of pests because the fruit was not irradiated.

A similar Japanese ban on Indian mangoes, imposed in 1986, was lifted last year during a visit to Tokyo by Indian Trade Minister Kamal Nath.

The authority also noted that mango retailers had set up stalls at or near Indian airports to allow passengers to buy fruit ahead of departure.

"(The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) would like to make it clear that passengers should refrain from purchasing mangoes even from such retail points for the purposes of carrying them to the United States and Japan," it said.