DELHI: The United States authorities have abandoned at least 15 shipments of Indian mangoes due to an alleged incomplete documentation process while exporting, an Indian publication, The Economic Times, reported.
The authorities sent the consignments back due to incomplete documentation. The rejection is estimated to have caused a potential loss of around $500,000.
After the rejection at airports including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta, the authorities asked exporters either to destroy the cargo or re-export it to India.
Hence, exporters chose to discard mangoes due to its perishable nature and high transporting cost, the report said.
The affected mangoes had gone through a radiation treatment process on May 8 and 9 in Mumbai. This mandatory procedure uses controlled doses of radiation to eliminate pests and extend the fruit’s shelf life, a key requirement for U.S. imports, it added.
The exporters expressed concerns over rejection, and clarified that the irradiation process was done at a facility in Navi Mumbai under the supervision of a US department of agriculture (USDA) officer.
“We are being penalised for mistakes made at the irradiation facility,” an exporter told the news publication.
Following this, the US government stated that it won’t incur “remedial measures for this shipment”, the notification sent by USDA to one of the exporters read.
