Kay Bee Exports recently sent the first air shipment of Indian pomegranates to Australia through the irradiation protocol. "Market access for whole pomegranate fruits from India to Australia has been available for quite some time. However, the protocol approved initially was the in-transit cold treatment at below 2C. This is very cold for the Indian fruit and hence no shipments could be effected. However, another pathway via irradiation was approved earlier this year. This enabled Kay Bee to ship the first fruits by air. The first shipment was shipped to Melbourne and subsequent shipments to other ports like Sydney."
India grows pomegranates for almost all twelve months of the year. Khakhar states that this is very suitable for the Australian market, as it then allows India to ship fruit to Australia when the local fruit is not available. "We have been a pomegranate specialist for the last two decades. We offer fruit from both our owned orchards, as well as partner farms, who are all certified for agriculture practices, ethical standards and environmental conservation. We already ship fruit to Europe, Asia and the Middle East, where there is no quarantine protocol. But for countries like USA and Australia, we need to follow the 400 gray irradiation treatment. Irradiation is a very safe treatment, which addresses the quarantine concerns of the importing country, but also ensures high levels of consumer food safety."
The facilities of Kay Bee have proven to be adequate for the strict requirements of shipping the pomegranates to Australia, Khakhar explains: "Our packhouse has been specifically audited and approved by the Indian regulatory agencies. We received approvals in August and immediately planned the shipment for Australia. Only approved packhouses and irradiation facilities are allowed to ship fruit. The protocols regarding cleaning the fruit to minimise the pest burden are quite complex and require a high degree of skill, which we have mastered over the last year with our prior experience of shipping irradiated fruit to the USA."
"The Indian variety Bhagwa scores very high in terms of visual appeal and eating quality. The fruit travels well and we are confident that it will be able to find a niche for itself, even when other origin fruits are available. As such, we are quite upbeat about the Australian market and hope to put in efforts to make the Indian fruit popular and accepted as the best fruit available. We have invested in high quality packaging and labelling to set standards for this premium fruit from India," Khakhar concludes.
Kay Bee Exports is exhibiting at Asia Fruit Logistica, Hong Kong. You can find their booth in hall 3, booth 3J55.
For more information:
Mr. Varun Sharma
Kay Bee Exports
Tel: +91 91378 60040
sales@kaybeeexports.com
www.kaybeeexports.com