Japan issues conditions for lifting of ban on RP papayas, mangoes

The Japanese government has issued new conditions for it to lift the ban on the entry of solo papaya and mango exports from Davao after two shipments of Dole Tropifresh Philippines (DTP) last month were found to be infested with fruit flies.

But even as the Philippine government will already have its hands full with the tedious process of complying with these requirements, its difficult situation is being aggravated by the outright "uncooperative" stance of DTP.

DTP president John Casazza in a letter to the Bureau of Plant Industry said that "for food safety reasons," the company cannot allow its facilities to be inspected. No further details were furnished the BPI which has been tasked to investigate the matter.

Thus, it is likely that the resumption of solo papaya and mango exports to Japan will face further delay and result in more losses.

The new conditions issued by Noburo Saito, director of the Agricultural Production Bureau of the Japan Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) require local quarantine officials to conduct an investigation on the cause of the infestation, re-inspection of the vapor heat treatment (VHT) facilities, submission of an investigative report, and an improvement plan or concrete steps to be taken to ensure the incident is not repeated.

Saito said that after the final investigation report is submitted to the MAFF, a team of quarantine experts from Japan will be sent to Davao and validate the report of the BPI.

In the meantime, Saito said the ban stays until the Japanese government decides on the appropriateness of the investigative report and the measures to be undertaken to improve methods to eliminate fruit fly infestation.

Saito also recommended that Philippine quarantine authorities carry out the following to prevent a repeat of the incident: re-inspection of all processes from the transportation of solo papaya and mango to Davao’s VHT facilities for the Japanese market, selection and storage, heat treatment, packing, labeling, export inspection, assortment, storage and shipment; selection and storage of fruits, prospective maintenance of VHT chamber and related equipment and facilities; post-process fruit storage and shipment methods.

Last month, the country lost close to $85 million in export revenues from solo papaya and mango exports because Japan has not lifted the ban on the entry of these fruits since Oct. 22.

The MAFF banned the entry of these fruits after it discovered that portions of a shipment of 35,150 kilos of solo papayas by Dole Tropifresh Philippines were infested with fruit flies. The shipment was seized at the Kawasaki port. Another shipment from the same company was seized at the Kobe port when findings showed the same level of infestation as in the Kawasaki shipment.

Since the mango shipment was with the same solo papaya cargo, the MAFF also banned the entry of Davao mangoes.

Earlier, Philippine agriculture attaché to Japan Joseph Sison said the MAFF is now casting doubts on the effectivity of VHT as a means to eliminate fruit fly infestation.

Sison said the MAFF is sending a technical team to Davao to look into earlier reports that a breakdown in one of three VHT machines used by Dole Tropifresh failed to detect the presence of fruit flies.

Sison warned that doubts on the effectiveness of the VHT could pose trouble for the Philippines, especially in its bid to penetrate other markets such as Europe, the US and Australia. VHT has long been used by fruit exporters as means to fumigate and weed out fruit flies.

Australia for one is proposing another method, methyl bromide to fumigate Philippine bananas before these are allowed entry in their domestic market.