Courtesy Mahesh Telkar/ (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Londoners will soon be able to enjoy the succulent pleasures of Indian mangoes with the lifting of a European Union embargo.

Indian exporters were banned from sending mangoes to the EU last May, after fruit flies were found in a shipment.

British High Commissioner to India, Sir James Bevan, said that the British Government worked hard to lift the ban.

It sent an expert to provide technical training prior to the September EU inspection.

Bevan is enthusiastic about the success of these efforts.

He said:

This is great news for the UK-India and EU-India trade relationship and especially for Indian exporters and UK consumers. We are pleased to have played an important role in bringing the ban to an end.

At the time of the ban, many UK based fruit importers were distraught.

Monica Bhandari, of the London-based wholesaler Fruity Fresh, told The Independent that ‘the ban is excessively severe and a disproportionate step.’

She actively petitioned to have the ban lifted.

Today, she’s optimistic. She told BBC reporters:

Customers are going to be delighted. Those who buy mangoes, who were up in arms, really, about the mango ban, have been missing them all season.

The export of other Indian produce, including aubergines and bitter gourds, is still restricted.

But for customers who missed Indian mangoes in particular, this will be a sweet victory.