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Contact:
Alyn Kiel (301) 734-5222
Lyndsay Cole (970) 494-7410
First Shipments of Mangoes from Pakistan Arrive in the United States
WASHINGTON, July 29, 2011--The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today the beginning of mango trade between the United States and Pakistan with the arrival of the first shipments of mangoes into the continental United States.
“The United States and Pakistan have worked closely to open this new market to mango growers in Pakistan and make additional choices available to U.S. consumers,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Irradiation treatments allow USDA to facilitate the safe importation of mangoes from Pakistan while protecting U.S. agriculture from harmful pests and diseases.”
USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) approved the importation of commercial shipments of fresh mangoes from Pakistan in August 2010. To ensure that plant pests of quarantine significance do not enter the United States, the mangoes must be treated with specified doses of irradiation at an APHIS-certified facility. Irradiation treatment may be applied prior to or upon arrival into the United States. In addition, each shipment must be accompanied by a certificate issued by the national plant protection organization of Pakistan with additional declarations certifying that the consignment was inspected and found free of the causal agent of mango bacterial black spot, Xanthomonas campestris pv. mangiferaeindicae. The fruit will also be subject to inspection at the port of first arrival into the United States.
Irradiation became an approved treatment on all pests for fruits and vegetables entering the United States in 2002. Irradiation provides an alternative to other pest control methods, such as fumigation, cold and heat treatments.
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