Government of Pakistan

Ministry of National Food Security & Research

Department of Plant Protection

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No. FFMSEU(DDQ)-29/2015Jinnah Avenue, Malir Halt,

Karachi the 27thJanuary, 2015

NOTIFICATION

In pursuance of Office Memorandum No. F.4-5/2014-DFSC-1 (EU/UK), Islamabad the 15th May, 2014 of Ministry of National Food Security & Research, Govt. of Pakistan after receiving serious warning from European Union to Pakistan for imposing ban on export of Mango and other commodities to European Union on high level of increasing interception of mainly Mango and other commodities, the Department of Plant Protection, Jinnah Avenue, Malir Halt, Karachi, Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Islamabad, Government of Pakistan has made following SOP’s for certification/registration of Mango Orchard, Mango Hot Water Treatment Plant and Mango Pack Houses for the export of Mango’s to Europe and USA during the year 2015.

Definitions:

1)Adviser and Director General mean Adviser and Director General of Department of Plant Protection, Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Islamabad.

2)Department means the Department of Plant Protection, Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Islamabad.

3)Any Certified or Registered facility means Mango orchards or Mango pack house or hot water treatment plant that is registered / certified by the department of plant protection.

4)SOPs means Standard Operating Procedure made by the Department of Plant Protection for registration / certification of Mango Orchard and Mango Hot Water Treatment Plant and Mango Pack House.

5)Technical Audit Team means technical officers / officials appointed by the Adviser and Director General, to carry out technical audit of facility for the purpose of registration.

6)Inspector means technical officers / official of the department appointed by the Advisor and Director General for monitoring of operations at the facility as per notified SOP’s of the department.

(Standard Operating Procedure for Mango Orchards)

  1. No Mango orchard in Pakistan shall be entitled to sell, offer for sale to export its Mango to Europe and USA unless it is certified / registered by the Department in the manner provided by this notification and SOP’s, terms and conditions and requirements framed thereunder:
  1. Any mango grower desirous to obtain certification/ registration for sale, offer for sale and exportof mango from his mango orchard to Europe and USA shall conform and comply the following Standard Operating Procedure in Mango Orchard and apply to the Adviser and Director General on Form-A duly signed by him or his authorized person for the certification/ registration under such name as he may indicate in the application on or before 15th February, 2015. Form-A will be provided by the department free of cost.

a)Pest population and diseases incidence e.g., (scales, galls, hoppers, fruit borer, anthracnose, powdery mildew, gummosis, etc.,) should remain at the lowebb on the Mango Orchards during the entire season.

b)Fruit fly population should be under complete control in Mango Orchard during whole season. At-least 8 pheromones traps per acre should be installed in Mango Orchard for monitoring and control of fruit fly along with maintenance of record regarding fruit fly catches, use of methyl eugenol, protein hydrolysateor any other bait with application and catch record.

c)Mango Orchard should be kept free from all kinds of weeds and intercropping during whole season.

d)Mango Orchard must be properly pruned and its branches and fruit should not fall on the ground.

e)A complete record of Agronomic and plant protection operations and activities be maintained at the farm to ensure traceability and provided to the department as and when required.

f)There shall be a facility or arrangement of clean portable water at the farm.

g)Proper efficient sanitation and hygienemust be maintained at the farm.

h)There should be proper, regular and efficient arrangement for disposal of damaged, fallen, injured, diseased, un-matured fruits by collecting and burying them.

i)Neither any non-recommendedpesticides shall be applied to the Mango Orchardnor should it unveil during MRL test of mango fruit at any time from the laboratory test.

j)There will be arrangement of proper and latest pesticides application, harvesting and de-sapping equipment’s, machinery and tools at the Mango Orchard.

k)A separate soundly constructed store for storage of pesticides, fertilizers, micro-nutrients with washing facilities, fire extinguisher and notice board regarding precautionary measures shall be maintained at the farm or close to farm but away from residential area.

l)The destruction and removal of the empty packages and pesticide remains shall be made in such a way as to preclude the possibility of their being reused for any purpose and sources of water supply shall not be contaminatedat the farm in consultation with the department.

m)The registration holder shall be bound to sell or offer to sell properly harvested, de-sapped, latex, and blemished and pest free fruitto any person for hot water treatment and later export to Europe and USA.

n)A proper hygienic and completely insect proof store with plastered floor, walls and ceiling for the harvested product before it is transported to certified / registered hot water treatment plant and Pack House shall be maintained at the Mango farm or along with it.

o)After certification/registration, no pesticides shall be applied on Mango Orchard without the recommendation of the Department.

p)MRL report from PARC, PCSIR laboratory, Karachi after Post Harvest Interval of pesticides and before start of harvesting along with complete record of pesticides application shall be maintained at the farm and submitted to the department.

q)The certified / registered Mango orchard shall be open for inspection, verification of any operation, activity, pests and disease incidence, SOP’s, infrastructure and record to the department and International Pre-Shipment Inspection Agencies at any reasonable time.

r)Harvesting of mango fruit for sale, hot water treatment and export to aforesaid countries shall not be carried out before 20th May, 2015 for attaining full maturity and good size and termination of post- harvest interval of applied pesticides.

s)The certified / registered Mango Orchard shall issue testimony certificate to the buyer against the ownership of its Mango fruit to ensure traceability.

t)The certified / registered mango orchard shall inform the department immediately after complete harvesting of its mango fruit.

u)The certified / registered mango orchard shall be bound to present pre-shipment inspection report about its mango fruit and orchard.

v)The Mango fruit of certified / registered orchards shall undergo hot water treatment and ethylene treatment before export to Europe.

  1. The certification/registration holder of mango grower in Punjab and Sindh desirous to export mango directly through reefer container by sea to Europe may be given 15-20 days window from the onset of mango export to export mango without hot water treatment but it shall be strictly subject to following terms and conditions.

a)The Mango orchard shall first qualify the initial certification/registration under the aforesaid SOP’s.

b)The certification/registration holder of mango orchards shall submit separate application for this 15 to 20 days window regarding export through reefer container by sea and offer their mango orchard for special survey to the department during 2ndweek of February in Sindh and last week of February in Punjab after installation of fruit fly traps / protein hydrolysate and fulfillment of other requirements as per SOP’s of initial inspection.

c)Such mango orchard must be free of fruit fly population and within admissible MRL of any pesticides.

d)Subsequent inspection of such orchards shall be undertaken consecutively by the department to ensure the SOP’s being implemented in the true spirit.

e)Harvesting, de-sapping, cleaning, washing, sorting, grading, labeling, packing, loading in such orchard shall be under strict supervision of pre-shipment inspection agency and subject to satisfactory report regarding all operations and pest free shipment.

f)In case of increase in fruit fly and any other pest population in the orchard and locality due to conducive environment and interception in importing country and any other reason, this window may be withdrawn at any time without any notice.

g)The dates for export of such mango shipments shall be announced keeping in view technical audit and environmental conditions.

  1. The Mango fruit of certified / registered orchards shall undergo registered food graded fungicidal dip as prescribed by the department in the light of MOU with USA before export to USA.

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE FOR MANGO HOT WATER TREATMENT PLANT

  1. No Mango Hot Water Treatment Plant in Pakistan shall be entitled to handle, process, ripen, store, pack, label, ship, offer hot water treated mango for export or export mangoes to Europe unless it is certified / registered by the Department in the manner provided by this notification and SOP’s framed thereunder:
  1. Any person desirous to obtain certification/registration of Hot Water Treatment Plant for himself or as common facility on commercial basis, he may apply to the Advisor and Director of the department on Form B (available free of cost from the department) duly signed by him or his authorized person under such name as he may indicate in the application on or before 1st April, 2015.
  1. Design and construction of the hot water facility is the responsibility of the owner, in consultation with an engineering firm. However, while constructing infrastructure, the firm shall conform and comply the following SOP’s, terms and conditions and minimum requirements for hot water treatment plant.
  1. The department allows a stainless steel (ss) grade 304 made batch system design of mango hot water treatment plant with minimum 2 tons capacity per hour and continuous flow system design of mango hot water treatment plantwith minimum 2 tons per hour capacity.
  1. The applicant for certification/registration of Mango Hot Water Treatment Plant shall conform and complythe following external requirements, SOP’s and terms and conditions.

a)It shall have a cemented boundary wall and free from crevices, holes, dampness and webs.

b)It shall have arrangements for disposal of waste material. Ideally, a disposal pit or compost pit should be within the boundary of Hot Water Treatment Plant and visible for supervision.

c)It shall have arrangement for prevention of contamination from outside like net proofing, air curtains and auto closing at the entry points to avoid flies, insects, pests etc.

d)Ordinary window screen or mosquito netting (at least 100 mesh per square inch) is sufficient to exclude fruit flies. Inspect it regularly and repair it as often as needed. Solid glass, concrete, drywall, or wooden walls are also acceptable.

e)It shall not be situated near obnoxious industry like fish canning, tanneries chemical plants, fertilizer plants releasing effluent / hazardous material, fruit and vegetable whole sale markets etc.

f)It shall have facility of portable water and permanently covered underground drainage system.

  1. They shall conform and comply the following internal requirement, SOP’s, terms and conditions of Mango Hot Water Treatment Plant.

a)It shall have properly plastered floor, walls and ceilings with impervious material and white washed and free from cracks, crevices, potholes, dampness, and webs.

b)It shall have floor level / slope for mallow water to flow out.

c)The hot water treatment plant shall have adequate protected lighting arrangements in the working area.

d)It may have adequate exhaust fans with proper netting and shutter if it is not air conditioned.

e)The premises shall always be free from cob webs and spiders.

f)The working area shall have adequate ceiling and floor fans if it is not air conditioned for workers.

g)It shall have double door and entry restricted and all the entry exit points are provided with air curtains /fly proofing and auto closing.

h)It shall have sufficient signboards indicating “don’t spit / don’t smoke, eatables prohibited” displayed at prominent places in the premises.

i)It shall have unloading, storage, ripening and packing area for hot water treated mangoes which shall be completely separated from each other.

j)It shall have palletization and docking capacity.

k)It shall have ripening chambers or suitable arrangement for ripening with ethylene.

l)It shall have water tank for manual washing, drying and fungicidal treatment.

m)It shall have calibrated electronic weigh balance.

n)It shall have sanctioned / allocated load from Govt. run power house.

o)It shall have separate storage arrangement for fungicides, urban pesticides, post-harvest biological control agents.

p)It shall have separate arrangement for storage of export rejections and ripened and rotten fruits.

q)It shall not mix untreated and raw mango with the treated mangoes in the premises.

r)It shall have two pheromones traps in the external area and two pheromone traps in the internal area of the premises.

s)It shall have separate storage arrangement for storage of packaging material, pallets etc.

t)It shall have regular cleaning schedule with disinfectants. (Lysol for floor, NaOCL solution for de-sapping racks, Alcohol for long nosed scissors, solid surfaces of inspections / sorting / grading tables.

u)It shall have closed disposable waste bin for disposal of fruit waste, Packing materials and rubbish material collected from pack house and hot water treatment plant.

v)It shall employ one Entomologist as technical expert who are skilled in pests, diseases and other defects identification, harvesting and de-sapping techniques, hot water treatment processing of mango.

w)It shall employee one supervisor for stacking the produce received at the facility orchard wise, identifiable by a production unit code number allotted by the Department to maintain traceability and to avoid admixing of the produce.

x)It shall have efficiently and sufficient in number trained fruit handlers who are responsible for de-sapping, sorting, cleaning, washing, hot water treatment, ripening, sorting, grading, packing, labelling, marking, palletization, operation and management of precooling, storage and hygienic practices.

y)It shall have complete maintenance of mango fruit log book regarding mango arrival, processing, hot water treatment, ripening, packing and shipping to ensure reliable system for trace back of a consignment to a particular orchard.

z)It shall have complete maintenance of record regarding quality system record, periodic maintenance of equipment, tools, pack house cleaning records, equipment / temperature control devices, fire extinguishers.

aa)It shall have worker with properly trimmed nail and hair free of any contagious disease.

bb)It shall have contract with the qualified Doctor to ensure periodic examination of workers for medical fitness.

cc)It shall have arrangement to pack fruit in each container in compliance with the recommended international code of practice for packing and transport of fresh fruits.

dd)It shall be bound to label the product according to the EU marketing standard as well as other importing countries standard.

ee)It shall have following equipment’s and articles in Pack House.

  • HDPE crates, buckets and bins.
  • Cushioning material
  • Stainless steel cutters / trimmers / de-handers
  • Registered fungicides, urban pesticides.
  • Ripening process hurdles / shelf life enhancing agents
  • Fruit washing agents like sodium hypochlorite / inditron/ triton
  • Stainless steel equipment cleaning agents like hydrogen peroxide.
  • Fruit washing water
  • Polyethylene pouches.
  • Packing/ weighing machines
  • Labelling / number machine
  • Strapping machines
  • Pallet trucks
  • Pallets
  • Pallet edges and markes
  • Insulted / reefer vans
  • Hand gloves, caps, aprons, mouth covers, uniforms
  • Metal detector
  1. The certification/registration holder of Hot Water Treatment Plant shall conform and comply the following procedure for operation of Hot Water Treatment Plant.

a)Before the start of each treatment and at the start each day and run, he shall examine the facility for proper operation of the heating, circulation, and recording equipment as well as continuous flow equipment (submerged conveyor belt).

b)He shall carry out preliminary culling procedure to eliminate oversized items prior to treatment to mango subject to size restrictions.

c)He shall conduct all treatments in an approved automatic tank.

d)He shall ensure to allow adequate water circulation and heat exchange in Loading flow water dips tanks in a manner approved by the department of Plant Protection.

e)He shall undertake to maintain complete record of Lot before placing and its placing in the immersion tank shall be under the supervision of the departmental technical staff.

f)He shall record the temperature and duration of each hot water dip with an automatic temperature recording system.

g)The authorized technical officer of the department/ inspector shall indicate on the printed temperature record the starting time, lot number, duration of each treatment, and initial each entry

h)He shall not only install prescribed Data logger with the Hot Water Treatment Plant but also continuously maintained its data and provide to the department as and when required.

i)During certification/registration, the average pulp temperature shall become the minimum commercial treatment pulp temperature.

j)During commercial treatments, the “Adjusted Tank Sensor Temperature” in is used as the lowest treatment temperature.

k)When treatment is complete, promptly move Mangoes treated at origin to an insect-free enclosure.

l)He shall maintain the insect-free mango commodity throughout the shipping process.

  1. The applicant for certification/registration of hot water treatment shall have the following design of Batch System of Mango Hot Water Treatment Plant.

a)In this system, baskets of mango fruit are loaded onto a platform, which is then lowered into the hot water immersion tank where the fruit remain at the prescribed temperature for a certain length of time, then are taken out, usually by meansof an overhead hoist.