Food adulteration: HC asks AP & TS to curb menace

HYDERABAD: Expressing displeasure with the casual attitude of the concerned authorities to check adulteration of food items, a division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday directed the chief secretaries of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments to inform about the steps taken to curb the rampant food adulteration and usage of calcium carbide chemical for artificial ripening of fruits in their respective states and to submit the same before it by January 23 next year.

The bench of Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice G Shyam Prasad was dealing with a PIL case which was taken up suo moto based on a news item published in a vernacular daily in 2015 on rampant usage of calcium carbide chemical for artificial ripening of fruits in AP and Telangana.

When the matter came up for hearing, senior counsel S Niranjan Reddy, who was appointed as amicus curiae in the case, told the court that no concrete steps were taken by both the state governments on the issue. The menace of artificial ripening of fruits by using calcium carbide is  rampant in both the states, causing serious health problems to the consumers.