Short read: Forbidden fruit

There are few things that unite us as much as our love for mangoes does. So, this piece is likely to make you squirm as we learn from The Economist that the Japanese will no longer be buying Indian mangoes:

“It has banned fresh mango imports from India, after the world’s biggest producer failed its pest-control checks. India flunks a lot of such tests. Its spices, seafood and rice all face restrictions, bans and extra inspections in America, Europe and Asia. The EU has issued 365 alerts against various Indian food products in the past two years.”

So where do things go awry for India’s agri produce? Answer: On the farm, and then everywhere after: “The problem begins on farms, where runaway pesticide use and banned chemicals are common and good pest control is not. Corruption and lax monitoring mean that pesticides, drug residues and microbial bugs like salmonella then travel smoothly up the supply chain.”

The commercial cost is real. “A single cargo container of spices can be worth over $100,000, so rejection by inspectors hurts…The EU already lab-tests 20-50% of all Indian chilli and curry-leaf shipments—at the producers’ expense.”

But the part that should sting you and me is closer to home: “The biggest victims are unsuspecting Indians. Almost one in five samples that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India tested in 2024-25 failed. One recent raid in Gujarat unearthed a stockpile of worm-eaten and fungus-infected mangoes destined for juice. Artificial ripening—a banned but common chemical trick—can cause organ failure. Other things can kill over decades: the bigger the amount of certain pesticides you consume, the greater the risk of cancer.”

There are fixes, some of them technocratic—a national farm-to-port tracing system, more testing labs along the supply chain. But the most striking example comes from next door: “Over the past decade Bangladesh has virtually eliminated poisoning from lead chromate, a chemical that was frequently added to the spice turmeric to enhance its colour…

Bangladesh’s action against the additive involved public intervention from the prime minister, as well as a graphic TV campaign and the plastering of 50,000 notices in markets and other public areas.”

India, we learn, had already made adulterating turmeric with the chemical a crime, but never enforced its own rules—which sets up the article’s parting shot which is likely to needle hypersensitive Indians: “It could do a lot worse than learn from its often looked-down-upon neighbour.”

If you want to read our other published material, please visit https://marcellus.in/blog/

Note: The above material is neither investment research, nor financial advice. Marcellus does not seek payment for or business from this publication in any shape or form. The information provided is intended for educational purposes only. Marcellus Investment Managers is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and is also an FME (Non-Retail) with the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) as a provider of Portfolio Management Services. Additionally, Marcellus is also registered with US Securities and Exchange Commission (“US SEC”) as an Investment Advisor.