Mangoes: An EU adventure.

The European Union is often blamed for a lot of things by eurosceptics whether it is the decline of the British fishing industry, flooding in the South West or a whole host of other myths and half-proven tales, the sceptic is always quick to seek out a story and turn it into a stick to beat the EU with.

I recently became aware that the European Union was being blamed for banning mangoes from entering the UK, a story that was so wild at the time that I actually failed to believe it and assumed it was a hoax, certain eurosceptics however seemingly had no problem with using it as part of their arsenal so I decided to do some basic research on the story and find out it was true or complete and utter tripe. What I found was certainly interesting and actually confirmed the Ukip story that mangoes had been banned across the European Union, what the sceptics conveniently failed to mention was that the EU had imposed the ban after finding several large shipments of the fruit had been contaminated with fruit flies, a threat that not only endangered the health of citizens but also to agriculture across Europe.

While it is understandable for British Asians to be annoyed about a possible problem with obtaining Indian mangoes in the future it is perfectly understandable for the European Union to issue this ban in order to protect EU citizens and agriculture. As an invasive species alien intruders like Asian fruit flies could seriously damage businesses across Europe and biting into a seemingly fresh mango that has been infested with fruit flies is disgusting and certainly not good for consumer confidence. It seems to me that this is another example of sceptics trying to turn a non-story into scandal and another reason to factcheck every ludicrous claim you hear on social media outlets.