EU lifts ban on Alfanso Indian mangoes

Finally, it took 9 months for The European Union to lift an import ban on Indian mangoes including Alfanso ( Champagne of mangoes) , after they found in 207 Indian consignments infested with fruit flies t which they fear could harm European salad crops back in May 2014. Critics argue then this ban was disproportionate and will have a devastating impact on local growers, UK businesses and Britain’s trade relationship with India, as more than 1,400 people have signed a petition to reverse the change and several MPs have backed the cause. The UK imports around £6.3m worth of Indian mangoes per year. Premium Alphonso mangoes, which are popular in the UK, were in season as the ban came into force. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which voted to put the ban in place, was working with Indian authorities and the European Commission to try to get the ban lifted. India, the world’s largest mango exporter, had threatened to drag the 28-nation EU to the World Trade Organisation over the ‘arbitrary’ ban last year. A recent European Union inspection found that India has since tightened controls and also promised measures to keep bugs out of the fruit.

Alphonso is named after Afonso de Albuquerque, a nobleman and first European to enter the Persian Gulf and led the first European fleet voyage into the Red Sea, and military genius who helped establish the Portuguese colony in India. Albuquerque advanced the three-fold Portuguese grand scheme of combating Islam, spreading Christianity and securing the trade of spices and the establishment of a Portuguese Asian empire. It was the Portuguese who introduced grafting on mango trees to produce extraordinary varieties like Alphonso. The fruit was then introduced to the Konkan region in Maharashtra, Gujarat and parts of south India.

Of the thousands of cultivars of mango in India, there are several different varieties of Alphonso, the best and most expensive are grown on the small Natwarlal plantation in Ratnagiri, and are hand-harvested. It is this variety that’s most widely exported. The fruit was shipped to London for the Queen’s coronation in 1953 from Mumbai’s Crawford Market, known for its Alphonso stalls in short season from April to end of June. Most Indians Alfanso manago more passionately than the fruit for breakfast, lunch and dinner during its short season.