It has been years since Gujarat has been exporting its kesar mangoes to the US via Maharashtra. No longer though, as the state has finally got approval from the United States Department of Agriculture-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (USDA-APHIS) for an irradiation facility in Ahmedabad.
Not only is the facility approved, the Gujarat Agro Radiation Processing Facility (GARPF) is also the largest among the four in the country with respect to capacity and range of products.
Though most countries don’t ask for exports to undergo irradiation, the US mandates the process of irradiation for mangoes and other food items. Irradiation is a process that involves disinfection of several types of flies, including Diptera (flies) or Tephritidae (fruit flies).
The entire process not only disinfects but also ameliorates the shelf life of fruits and vegetables of the mangoes by at least 25-30 days. While Gujarat was famous for its native mangoes, the exports were seen from Maharashtra but now, Gujarat should be able to export directly to the US, says DK Parekh, managing director of GAIC. Maharashtra had exported around 980 tonnes of irradiated mangoes to the US in 2019-20. But 50-60% of these mangoes were from Gujarat which could not be exported directly due to the unavailability of an USDA-APHIS approved irradiation plant in the state.
State government’s horticulture department’s official said that due to the lack of a USDA-APHIS approved irradiation facility in the state, all the kesar mango exports from Gujarat went to the US through Maharashtra. But now that the facility is approved, Gujarat will get to record these export revenues for the state from 2022-23.
What sets GARPF apart from the other three facilities, one in Mumbai, Lasalgaon and Bengaluru is the range of its products and its size. At a million curie, the facility operated and maintained by Agrosurg Irradiators Pvt Ltd, is the largest in the country, Supervised and made under the guidance and endorsement of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), and the Board of Radiation and Isotope Technology (BRIT), GARF remains to be the only facility in India that can irradiate multiple products like onion, potato, cereals, pulses, psyllium husk, pet food, meat, spices, dehydrated onions, dry vegetables, meat products including poultry, eggs, and medical products at a low, medium and high dose as per the requirement.
The irradiation facility in Gujarat possesses features to disinfect a large range of products including pulses, spices, medical devices, fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh onions, and dehydrated onions, among others. ” The irradiation dose for each of these products varies. The range lies from 40 Gy to 25,000 Gy. Hence, now it is not only Gujarat’s products but different goods from other states can also be irradiated in Gujarat” says Pranav Parekh, executive director of Agrosurg Irradiators Pvt. Ltd.
Now that the facility has been approved by the US, it shall now attempt to get similar approval from Australian authorities, as Australia is another country that mandates irradiation of mangoes, among other exported goods.
