"We expect approval of requests from the Philippines to ship fresh mangoes to Guam and Hawaii later this year from sources other than Guimaras, except for Palawan," said Dennis Voboril, USDA agricultural trade office director Dennis Voboril.
Currently, the US only allows exports of fresh mangoes from the quarantined Guimaras Island in the Visayas, which was declared free of the mango pulp and mango seed weevil diseases. There are also no reported incidents of these diseases in mango-producing areas in the Philippines except for Palawan in Luzon.
The USDA approval, if granted this year, will enable exporters of fresh mangoes to ship even earlier than the scheduled 2007 effectivity of the revised US Federal Rule that will allow mangoes coming from all production areas in the Philippines except Palawan to enter Hawaii and Guam, and subsequently other US territories and mainland states.
At the same time, Voboril said the USDA will release a $2-million grant or about P106 million next month to the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) which already started a study on how to enhance the export competitiveness of Philippine mangoes intended for shipment to the US.
Among others, the study will include evaluating the use of irradiation facility to treat mango fruit pests, a survey to determine the existence and prevalence of the mango pulp weevil and seed weevil diseases and measures to extend the shelf-life of fresh mangoes intended for shipment to the US mainland and its territories, and strengthening quarantine measures to ensure they comply with the USDA sanitary and phytosanitary standards.
Voboril clarified that the US irradiation method to treat mangoes is not necessarily a precondition to USDA’s approval of exports coming from other production areas in the Philippines.
"All would depend on the results of the three-year study," noted Voboril.
The USDA has been pushing for the irradiation technology to replace the widely-accepted international vapor heat treatment (VHT) technology as a condition to accepting bigger volumes of fresh mango from the Philippines.
Food irradiation is the exposure of food to ionizing radiation intended to eliminate pests and bacteria, especially pulp weevil pests usually found in tropical countries.
The US promotes food irradiation under the Food for Peace program which aims to develop civilian application of nuclear technology. US-based companies GrayStar and Surebeam were among those proposing to build the first commercial food irradiation facility in the Philippines.
Exporters, however, are opposing replacing the VHT method which is used to treat mangoes shipped to Japan and other markets, saying minimum investment is costly at P500 million.
"The industry does not have the capacity to invest in such an expensive facility except if government steps up and supports exporters," said Roberto Amores in a previous interview. Amores is president of the Philippine Mango Exporters Confederation Inc. and Philippine Food Processors and Exporters Organization Inc. (Philfoodex).
Exporters said USDA’s concern about pulp weevil infestation was based on an old survey in the island province Palawan which is isolated from major mango-producing areas in the country.