HYDERABAD: A surprise raid in Telangana’s biggest fruit market in
Kothapet on Monday exposed rampant use of ethylene powder and other carcinogenic chemicals to ripen fruits.
Most of the fruits coming into Hyderabad are first dumped at this fruit market before being taken up by retailers and vendors. A chunk of the fruits are also exported to other states and countries.
State Food Laboratory officials, who conducted the raid, said they found ethylene powder packets stuffed inside boxes of mangoes to ripen them. Officials collected samples of such artificially ripened fruits and tested them. Shockingly, the tests revealed high content of calcium carbide in the fruits apart from cancer-causing arsenic and phosphorus.
During the raid, some of the officials even felt burning sensation upon opening some boxes of mangoes due to the high concentration of chemicals in them. The officials took samples of these fruits and made a note of the vendors and agents supplying ethylene packets in the market.
A scientist from State Food Laboratory said the ethylene packets found had been imported from China as pesticides to be used in crop cultivation. “Fruits should be free from harmful chemicals. Health is our top priority and we will take strict action against people flouting norms,” said K
Shanker, director of Institute Of Preventive Medicine, Public Health Labs And Food Administration (
Telangana).
Shanker explained that ethylene should be used only in gas form. “Ethylene can be used only as gas to ripen fruits in chambers since it gets equally distributed. If ethylene powder is used, we cannot keep tab on the concentration of the chemical,” he said.
The vendors, however, justified saying that customs had cleared ethylene powder packets. “The government should come up with a permanent solution. We have protested a lot of times as the capacity of the ripening chamber (60 tonnes) does not meet our need to ripen around 2,000 tonnes of fruits in the market,” said a vendor.
TIMES VIEW: About 90% of fruits sold in city markets are laced with chemicals or pesticide residues. There is no authority to certify whether fruits sold in the market are free of pesticide. The government should immediately set up such an authority and ensure that only fruits free of chemicals are sold to consumers.
TIMESVIEW
About 90% of fruits sold in city markets are laced with chemicals or pesticide residues. There is no authority to certify whether fruits sold in the market are free of pesticide. The government should immediately set up such an authority and ensure that only fruits free of chemicals are sold to consumers.
