| Application
of quality standards for grades of fresh fruits and vegetables in Mexico
are non-restrictive, but when Mexican produce is exported, there is a
need to comply with quality standards imposed by the country of entry.
However, there are some private Mexican companies that have their own
standards to sell high quality products. In 1995, Mexico exported above
30 million boxes of mangoes without any quality standards. At that
time, any grower could export fresh mangoes without restriction on
quality, negatively affecting the image of Mexican mangoes. Trying to
solve this problem, the Mexican Mango Exporters Association (EMEX,
A.C.) solicited the Research Centre in Food and Development to
establish quality standard grades for fresh mangoes, including maturity
index of main cultivars, postharvest behaviour, and other
characteristics, such as injuries, defects and tolerances accorded by
EMEX, in order to improve quality and to unify mango marketing.
Personnel were trained to introduce the mango quality standard grades.
These personnel or inspectors were called "Quality promoters" to avoid
the restrictive meaning of inspection. In addition to mango quality
standard grades, a training manual was published including sampling and
analytical techniques for mango fruits. During the mango producing
seasons of 1996 and 1997, quality promoters made observations and
generated suggestions to mango exporters and packinghouse workers to
improve fruit quality. |
