US rejects 15 Indian mango shipments over document error in radiation treatment report

Mango

In a big setback for the Indian mango traders, the US officials have rejected as many as 15 shipments over issues in paperwork. Latest reports say that these mango shipments were rejected at three major airports – Atlanta, Los Angeles and San Francisco - due to problems in documents sent along with them.

Irregularities in the paperwork pertain to the radiation treatment that the mangoes had undergone in Maharashtra. As per the norms, all the shipments going to the US have to undergo radiation to mitigate presence of any pests and prolong the shelf life. The shipments in question were given radiation treatment at the Navi Mumbai unit under USDA supervision, a CNN-News18 report added.

The traders say that the radiation center located in Vashi is at fault because of the issue in the key certificate issued. The PPQ203 form is critical for all shipments to the US. the officials had cited issue in this very certificate that led to the rejection of 15 shipments.

An Economic Times report said that the US either sent the shipments back to India or were destroyed after rejection. Because mangoes are highly perishable commodity, traders decided to destroy the shipments. This results in loss of Rs 4.2 crore to the Indian exporters.