The fruit fly is a member of the family Diptera, which lays its eggs on fruit and the larvae feed on the fruit. It is a global pest that has a significant impact on agriculture. Since fruit flies do not currently live in Japan, it is very important to prevent this pest from entering the country. Imported mango fruits are subjected to vapor heat treatment and are distributed in Japan after passing the Japanese phytosanitary inspection.
There are no fruit flies in Japan today, but until the 1990s, the subtropical Okinawa had melon flies and oriental fruit flies. Okinawa Prefecture, which was unable to ship fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products to markets outside the prefecture due to fruit flies, conducted research and made efforts to eradicate fruit flies, and successfully launched the "Fruit fly eradication project" in 1972. As a result, fruit flies were eradicated from Okinawa in 1986 and 1993, respectively. Since then, it has been possible to ship fresh mangoes from Okinawa to all parts of Japan without vapor heat treatment.