JOIN USThese fruits are artificially ripened
With the onset of summer, almost all fruits typical of this season have flooded the City markets.
But have you noticed off late that the shiny yellow bananas, papayas and mangoes you get home, turn out to be only partially ripe and not so tasty. Also, if you overdose on them, they not only cause stomach upset but even mouth ulcers and throat infections.
This is no co-incidence. A lot of fruit are being ripened artificially with the help of unhealthy chemicals. As for the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) which is supposed to control these malpractices, it seems disinterested in stopping the trend.
In fact, a lot of fruitsellers in the City openly declare that they use prohibited chemicals like calcium carbide and, according to them, consuming fruit ripened with it will do no harm. A fruit vendor in Azadpur mandi in North-west Delhi, who did not wish to be named, challenged Metrolife, “If you get me a papita in Delhi today which has not been artificially ripened I will
return the money you paid for it. It is impossible to get naturally ripened banana, papaya and mango in Delhi because they are brought in from neighbouring states, and if they are brought in ripe form, they will be rotten by the time they reach the consumer.” He also adds, “Just wash the fruit well before having it. The powder (calcium carbide) will go away.”
Food experts agree with this argument to some extent. Harbans Wadhwa, a food technologist at VOICE- a voluntary consumer organisation, says, “It is true that the fruit and vegetable mandis of Delhi like Azadpur, Keshavpur, Okhla, Ghazipur and a smaller morning market in Daryaganj receive their wares from states as far as
Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. If climacteric fruits like apples, bananas, plums, peaches etc., which continue to ripen after being picked, are brought in ripe, they will have very little shelf life. But for this, the authorities have allowed the use of ethylene, a gas naturally produced by fruit in closed chambers. Unfortunately, fruitsellers are not doing that because it involves extra expenditure. Calcium carbide, on the other hand, comes for as little as Rs 25-30 per kilo and can ripen 10 tonnes of fruits overnight.”
The effects of the usage of calcium carbide, low-grade petroleum wax and fruit hormone injections like Ethephon are extremely dangerous. Fruitsellers are constantly coming up with newer methods to ripen and preserve fruits while bypassing the law.
Dr. Neha Saxena, a nutritionist with VIMHANS, says, “The byproduct of calcium carbide - acetylene is used in gas welding of steel goods. It’s carcinogenic. In short term it can cause discomfort to asthmatics and respiratory problems, but in the long run it results in cancer. In fact, that is the problem of urban life. You consume adulterated things and fall ill in subsequent years. Then you keep consulting doctors wondering what caused the problem, never realising it could have been a simple fruit.”
The use of calcium carbide to ripen fruits is prohibited under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India laws but one rarely ever hears of any raids or arrests. In fact, when Metrolife contacted Anil Mehta, Deputy Director, FSSAI, asking him on the number of arrests in this regard this year, he simply replied, “I don’t know,” and disconnected the phone.
Surely, Delhi needs a more efficient monitoring agency to be saved from lethal fruits.