European Union has banned import of five Indian fruits and vegetables including Alphonso mangoes from May 2014.

New Delhi, July 9/Nationalturk – In a major jolt to Indian fruit industry and economy, European Union has banned import of five Indian fruits and vegetables including Alphonso mangoes from May 2014.

“28 nation grouping European Union (EU) has prohibited import from India of five fruits and vegetables with effective from May 1, 2014. Among the banned fruits  include Indian Alphonso mangoes,” Indian  Minister of State of Ministry of Commerce & Industry Nirmala Sitharaman told lawmakers in Rajya Sabha, upper house of Indian parliament.

EU had banned the import of mangoes, eggplant, the taro plant, bitter gourd and snake gourd, citing “significant shortcomings in the phytosanitary certification system of such products exported to the EU”.

Indian minister said the ban on import of fruits and vegetables has been placed on account of interceptions of export consignments not compliant with EU Phytosanitary regulations.

‘Measures taken to guarantee safe exports’

The minister said after the EU ban, Indian government has taken several measures including enhancement of capacity and numbers of inspecting staff and improvement in infrastructure, implementation of a Standard Operating Procedure to guarantee safe exports and routing of all export consignments of perishables to EU through approved pack houses from 1-4-2014 to enable better inspection and certification.

“India has not only informed the EU regarding implementation of these control systems but have also formally conveyed our disagreement on the temporary restriction imposed by the EU,” she added.

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