Specialists from the Chilean Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) carried out the certification of plants that will carry out the hydrothermal treatment for fresh mango consignments that will reach the Chilean market. This is according to the work plan established by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, through the National Agrarian Health Service (Senasa).

The certified plants correspond to the companies Tallanes SAC and Jumar Peru SAC, located in the Tambogrande district, one of the largest mango growing areas in the Piura region. These two new plants are added to the other seven that performed this quarantine procedure during the previous campaign.

The objective of this certification is to ensure that the plant products, in this case of the mango, comply with the requirements established by SAG to be free of pests, especially Fruit Flies.

The hydrothermal treatment consists of immersing the fruit in hot water to kill, inactivate, eliminate pests or sterilize them. The temperature and time that the fruit remains submerged are in accordance with the ranges established in each of the Work Plans identified between the Senasa and the importing countries.

The SAG specialists, accompanied by their counterparts from the Senasa Plant Quarantine area, tested the tanks and tubs with hot water according to the procedure, and they turned out positive.

In the Piura region, fresh mangoes are exported after undergoing hydrothermal treatment to the United States, Chile, New Zealand, China, Japan, Mexico and South Korea.

Procedure
The mango, whose weight is up to 425 grams, is submerged in hot water for 75 minutes at a temperature of no less than 46.1º C or 47º C, as required by the country of destination, and the fruit weighing between 426 and 650 grams, is submerged for 90 minutes. For Asian countries, the pulps temperature should reach 46°C and for Korea it should be maintained for 1 minute after the treatment is finished.

When monitoring the hydrothermal treatment, the plant quarantine inspectors (ICV) verify the correct operation of the water temperature recorder by means of a mercury thermometer and a digital thermometer; they review and interpret the graphs and exposure time according to the weight of the mango fruit.

At least once a day they check the calibration of the equipment temperature recorder, constantly check the water level of the treatment tanks (that the fruit is submerged 10.2 centimeters or more below the surface of the water) and check to ensure that the water to be used in the process is clean.

During the hydrothermal treatment, the inspector records the date and time of treatment, tank number, treatment number, calibration adjustments (+/-0.5°F or 0.27°C), total treatment time and temperatures.