America and European Countries Banned Indian Mangoes on Pretexts of Being Poisonous: Facts

Story:

Dear friends,

America and European countries have banned Indian mangoes on the pretexts being poisonous. Then I have a question as to why we drink their poisonous drinks like Coca-Cola n Pepsi as if it has a great taste?

Now this is a time to teach a lesson to all foreigners to stop suicides of our farmers …
Have plenty of fruits and fruit juices, and don’t drink foreign (brand) cold drinks…
Friends, circulate this message to all your friends so that each Indian gets it within a months time.

Plz save the farmer and our motherland India (Hindustan).

Analysis:

The message addressed to Indians is shared on social media sites, saying that America and European countries have banned the Indian Mangoes on the pretexts of being poisonous, so in return, Indians should not drink the ‘poisonous’ foreign brand cold drinks like Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

India is the world’s largest producer of mangoes and supplies them to many countries around the world. As discussed below, it is a fact that there have been some issues regarding the Indian mangoes imported into America and European countries in the past, but the story in question does not convey complete information.

Picture of Indian vendor selling mangoes — Indian vendor selling mangoes

In Europe

In 2013, non-European food pests were found in 207 shipments of fruit and vegetables imported from India. Consignments of mangoes were infested with pests, including fruit flies. So citing the presence of pesticides, the European Union (EU) had banned the import of Alphonso mangoes, Bitter gourd, Snake gourd, Brinjal and Taro from 1 May 2014 to December 2015. The UK’s department for environment, food and rural affairs said the ban was necessary because pests could threaten the country’s large salad crop industry of tomato and cucumber. The Indian mango exporters, however, said that they are now following standard inspection process and approached the authorities in Brussels to try and get the ban lifted. After the strong protest from India, in September 2014, an expert team from the Food and Veterinary Office of the European Union visited Indian facilities and gave a favorable report suggesting the ban on all items would be revoked. The ban on Indian mango imports into the European Union was lifted in January 2015. However, other foodstuffs remain restricted as of this writing. This ban from India is estimated to have affected exports worth millions of dollars.

Picture of Alphonso mangoes — Alphonso mangoes

In America

In the 1980s, the United States of America banned Indian mango exports expressing concerns over the hazardous pesticides the Indian farmers used to protect the fruit crop. In later years, there were concerns of fruit-fly infestation mentioned above. Due to this, Japan and China also obstructed the import of mangoes from India. To address the issues, India brought in Vapor Heat Treatment (VHT) facilities and related infrastructure pertaining to washing, drying, pallet, pre-cooling and cold storage facilities for export mangoes. In May 2007, after about 18-year ban, the first shipment of Indian mangoes got cleared for sales in American stores. This was after the 2006 deal between the two countries to enhance bilateral trade in agriculture with India.

So the import of Indian mangoes into America and European countries has been re-established after the concerns were addressed by Indian exporters.