Six tonnes of artificially ripened mangoes seized in Salem

SALEM: Officials from the Tamil Nadu food safety and drug administration department (TNFSDAD) seized six tonnes of artificially ripened mangoes from two shops in the city on Thursday.
TNFSDAD district officer R Kathiravan received a tip-off on some fruit shops selling artificially ripened mangoes. Kathiravan said, “It was based on the information that we checked five shops.”
He said the artificially ripened mangoes were found in two of those fruit shops. “They had sprayed ethylene to artificially ripen the mangoes,” Kathiravan said.
Besides Kathiravan, food safety officials including Sivalingam and Pushparaj were part of the inspection. The officer said the seized mangoes were disposed of in a compost yard belonging to the Salem municipal corporation, on the same day. A complaint was lodged with district revenue officer P Menaka, seeking legal action against the offenders. A fine would be levied when the offence is committed for the first time, and a prison term would be awarded for repeat offenders.
Similarly, food safety officials from Edappadi taluk inspected 13 shops and found artificially ripened mangoes in one shop. “They seized 440kg of mangoes and seized 500g of fungal infected mangoes,” Kathiravan said. He added legal notices were issued to the shop owners and that the shops will be closely monitored henceforth.