Inspectors check temperature probes on product at the new Giru facility.

Construction of a new Vapour Heat Treatment (VHT) facility at Giru, North Queensland, was recently completed and the plant is now operational. The facility is at the pack house of mango producer Manbulloo Ltd on its Horse Shoe Lagoon farm.

The new facility will boost Queensland´s mango industry by increasing Australia´s capacity to export mangoes to Japan and China by 30%. Japan and China are priority export markets for the Australian mango industry and Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries has been working closely with commercial collaborators Manbulloo and the Australian mango industry to build these markets through the Global Markets Initiative - mango export development project.

To gain market access to Japan and China, Australian mangoes must be heat treated to control fruit fly. VHT uses high humidity air to heat the fruit slowly to a flesh temperature of 47 degrees celsius. The fruit must be held at this temperature for 15 minutes to satisfy the quarantine protocols for each country. After heating, the fruit is cooled slowly and then packed into cartons with mesh covering the ventilation spaces to prevent infestation by fruit fly and other quarantine pests.

The new facility was approved on 13 November 2009 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Japan and the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) and their first exports through the facility landed in Tokyo one week later. The facility was also inspected on 23 November 2009 by AQIS and a representative from the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) of the People´s Republic of China. Subject to approval from AQSIQ and AQIS, the first shipment of Queensland mangoes was expected to arrive in China by the end of November.

The mango export project aims to increase mango exports to 10% of total mango production by June 2011. The opening of the new VHT facility is critical to achieving this goal and builds on the significant work by the Queensland Government over the past three seasons to develop new markets and expand existing markets.