Despite taking all possible measures to avoid rejection from the European Union (EU) for fruit/vegetable consignments, the first shipment of mangos has been rejected by the Netherlands. According to a notification issued by ministry of National Food Security & Research, Department of Plant Protection (DPP), which is exclusively available to the Business Recorder, the mango shipment weighing 5135 kilograms exported by Karachi based exporter to M/s Dharma Trading Holanda, Netherlands was intercepted with a fruit fly that led to the entry refusal of the mango consignment in Netherlands.
It said that this exporter, who had violated the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of Department of Plant Protection, had been suspended for further export with an immediate effect till investigation in this regard is accomplished. Meanwhile, sources said that after having ban warnings on fruit/vegetable consignments from the EU, the DPP has issued a SOP for exporters, sending consignments to the EU countries.
Moreover, they said that the EU banned the import of five types of fruits and vegetables from India over presence of pests and fruit flies in the consignments and they had warned Pakistani authorities to impose a similar ban on fruits and vegetables consignments, if their five consignments were rejected. Keeping this in view, the DPP with the assistance of growers and exporters drafted an SOP to follow the requirements for the EU exports. Sources said that DPP after inspecting more than 200 mango farms in Sindh and Punjab found 11 farms in Sindh and 14 in Punjab, which were free from fruit flies and other fruit diseases. Therefore, DPP strongly recommended and restricted the exporters to buy mangoes only from these farms for EU exports. However, the said exporter had violated the SOP.