The European Union on Thursday placed a ban on all mango imports from India after the food was found to be infested with fruit flies.
The EU also banned eggplants, the Patra leaf used for Indian cooking and two types of squash, the BBC reported. The ban could last until December 2015.
In April, the UK seized two shipments of mangoes that were contaminated with the tobacco whitefly, which is a carrier of over 100 viruses, the Times of India reported. The tobacco whitefly is not found in any part of the EU, and would thus be a threat to the union's food supply, officials said.
"The tobacco whitefly would be very damaging to UK salad crops if introduced," the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs told the Times of India. "It also emerged that the two consignments confiscated did undergo vapor heat treatment to rid it off the pests in India but it didn't work."
The temporary ban is needed to protect salad crops from "potential pests and diseases," DEFRA told the newspaper.
The UK alone imports nearly 6.3 million pounds, $10.6 million, worth of mangoes from India each year.
Indian fruit exporters have contacted officials in Brussels to get the ban removed, the BBC reported.
"We've put in place an elaborate examination and certification procedure that addresses the issue raised by the EU," Ajay Sahai, director general of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations, told the BBC.
One mango importer, Monica Bhandari, said the ban is a "knee-jerk reaction" and that she does not think the EU spoke to importers before implementing the ban. Treating the mangoes with water is enough to get rid of the flies, she told the BBC.
"We ourselves have only imported treated mangoes this year, and we have had zero instances of pests found in our products," Bhandari, a UK-based importer, told the BBC.
DEFRA said it is working with Indian officials and the EU to lift the ban.
