By Will Cavan
Executive Director
International Mango Organization (IMO)
Vista, California
www.mangoworldmagazine.blogspot.com
September 06, 2011
In a perfect world, mangoes (and all fruits & Vegetables for that matter) would be grown in a fruit fly free zone (environment).
Peten in Guatemala is a natural, and the IMO wonders if any mangoes are in the pipeline?
Since the rest of the mango producing world has to deal with various fruit flies as an obstacle (barrier) to USA market access we must study alternatives to Hot water Treatment.
The most appealing facet of irradiation is that it opens up a gamut of potential mango cultivars that can be exported instead of the "rough and ready" varieties that have been forced upon the USA consumer for years.
Finally the exporter/importer can provide a product that the customer actually wants!
In addition, since Food safety is a the top of everyone's list, there are collateral benefits that we can discuss in another article at another time.
Back to the customer, the changing demographic in the USA (and Europe for that matter) points out that there are mango varieties that are indigenous to each section of the population.
An Indian for example, lives and dies (and spend s every minute in between) thinking about their beloved Alphonso, Kesar, etc mangoes.
Someone from the Philippines will wax philosophically about the merits of a carabao mango.
A Pakistani loves their Chaunsa, Sindhri mangoes and considers it the highest honor to receive one as a gift.
Those of us familiar with Mexico, know that the preferred variety is the beloved Manila (an offspring of the Philippine Carabao).
The point that I am making here is that the actual driver in the USA market is not the anglo saxon consumer.
So why waste time and money on varieties that are not of interest to the actual consumer that one should be targeting?
Mexico,Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala should be planting high Brix cultivars such as the above mentioned and many more.
The combination of Hot water Treatment and Florida cultivars makes for insipid tasting fruit that consumers have been rejecting for years!
2012 will be the year that consumers can finally taste a tree ripened mango thanks to the irradiation facilty process.
India and Pakistan have finally made an inroad with expensive air freighted fruit that their customer base purchases without any promotion by the NMB and a multiples of the per carton price of Hot Water treated fruit that the National mango Board spends millions of dollars to promote!
The driver of consumption of fresh mangoes does not need a promotion nor an education on how and when to eat a mango.
So why not give the customer what they really want???
That is why the IMO is so bullish on irradiation!
Executive Director
International Mango Organization (IMO)
Vista, California
www.mangoworldmagazine.blogspot.com
September 06, 2011
In a perfect world, mangoes (and all fruits & Vegetables for that matter) would be grown in a fruit fly free zone (environment).
Peten in Guatemala is a natural, and the IMO wonders if any mangoes are in the pipeline?
Since the rest of the mango producing world has to deal with various fruit flies as an obstacle (barrier) to USA market access we must study alternatives to Hot water Treatment.
The most appealing facet of irradiation is that it opens up a gamut of potential mango cultivars that can be exported instead of the "rough and ready" varieties that have been forced upon the USA consumer for years.
Finally the exporter/importer can provide a product that the customer actually wants!
In addition, since Food safety is a the top of everyone's list, there are collateral benefits that we can discuss in another article at another time.
Back to the customer, the changing demographic in the USA (and Europe for that matter) points out that there are mango varieties that are indigenous to each section of the population.
An Indian for example, lives and dies (and spend s every minute in between) thinking about their beloved Alphonso, Kesar, etc mangoes.
Someone from the Philippines will wax philosophically about the merits of a carabao mango.
A Pakistani loves their Chaunsa, Sindhri mangoes and considers it the highest honor to receive one as a gift.
Those of us familiar with Mexico, know that the preferred variety is the beloved Manila (an offspring of the Philippine Carabao).
The point that I am making here is that the actual driver in the USA market is not the anglo saxon consumer.
So why waste time and money on varieties that are not of interest to the actual consumer that one should be targeting?
Mexico,Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala should be planting high Brix cultivars such as the above mentioned and many more.
The combination of Hot water Treatment and Florida cultivars makes for insipid tasting fruit that consumers have been rejecting for years!
2012 will be the year that consumers can finally taste a tree ripened mango thanks to the irradiation facilty process.
India and Pakistan have finally made an inroad with expensive air freighted fruit that their customer base purchases without any promotion by the NMB and a multiples of the per carton price of Hot Water treated fruit that the National mango Board spends millions of dollars to promote!
The driver of consumption of fresh mangoes does not need a promotion nor an education on how and when to eat a mango.
So why not give the customer what they really want???
That is why the IMO is so bullish on irradiation!
