American apples may come under scrutiny

Apples imported from America are suspected of carrying close to 100 varieties of pests, an issue which is being looked into by the authorities here.

The Commonwealth Agriculture Bureau International (CABI), a UK-based organisation, has listed 184 pests occurring on apples grown in the US.

Of the 184 pests, 94 may require phytosanitary measures, which are aimed at protecting against risks linked to food safety if the apples are to be imported to India, says a CABI report.

"The observation of the CABI could be correct. Unless we take appropriate steps to safeguard India's quarantine interest in line with the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), new pests and diseases will continue to enter the country," Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) director S Dave said.

"There is certainly a need for improving our quarantine programmes, particularly with regard to imports," he added.

However, officials in the Ministry of Agriculture responsible for quarantine of fruits and vegetables were oblivious of such a report.

WR Reddy, joint secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, said, "We will examine the matter. It is for the first time that such an allegation on apples imported from the US has been brought to our notice."

However, responding to an e-mail query, Indian representative to Washington Apple Commission Suman Saran said, "The US apples exported to India meet the Indian government standards and are not infested with pests. Any fruit destined for Indian consumers is inspected in the US prior to exports under the guidelines provided by the government of India and re-inspected when that fruit arrives in India."

Leading International Trade & Agribusiness expert Vijay Sardana pointed, "The US market has quarantine concerns about the Indian mangoes for fruit fly and interestingly India seems to be silent when it comes to apples imported from Washington."

Pest risk analysis under IPPC of the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is a precondition for imports under WTO. India's action plan for pest risk analysis (PRA) took effect from December 2003 and it aims to protect the country's agriculture from damages caused by harmful (quarantine) pests found in the imported commodities.

A senior official from the National Bureau of Plant & Genetic Resources (NBPGR) , who did not wished to be identified, said, "Our quarantine measures are weak when compared to other countries, despite the national plant protection and quarantine authorities having the mandate for protecting the resources of their respective countries from invasive pests entering the borders."

"Weak laws will make India susceptible to bio-terrorism and agri food trade will become a source of new infections. Today, everything is coming to India and making our country hub for infections of the world. NBPGR study confirms that" said Sardana.

"The country need not require the purchase of sophisticated equipment to detect such pests. We have qualified experts and the right equipment and microscopes. All we need is an appropriate system in place," Dave said.

If we did not pay enough attention in this direction, many exotic pests and diseases would invade our fruits and vegetables, which in turn, would become a constraint in our market access efforts, he added.

Import of apples from the US has been increasing since 2001. According to the statistics from Directorate General of Foreign Trade, US apples have a market share of about 50 per cent in the imported apple category.

The US apples imported by India have gone up more than 100 per cent to 16,500 tonnes in 2005-06 compared to 8,273 tonnes in 2004-05.

US apples imported by India are primarily Washington Red Delicious, with relatively small amounts of Golden Delicious and other varieties.