A spokesperson from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said AQIS and Japanese inspectors detected insect larvae in a mango during a routine inspection on Tuesday.

Industry development manager with the Australian Mango Industry Association, Trevor Dunmall, was hopeful the ban would not last long, but understood the larvae could take one or two weeks to grow out while tests were being completed on them.

“We’re disappointed Japan has blocked all mango imports from Australia when the larvae was only found at one (of three) processing plants,” he said.

“We have systems in place to prevent the odd incident and it’s important to note that this is the first fly larvae to be detected, and it was detected in Australia so it hadn’t been sent out.”

Japan is a significant market for the mango industry for its lucrative prices despite its relatively low shipment volume.

Systems at the facility in question are being reviewed, but it is hoped the other registered facilities will be able to resume exporting soon.