Fruit, vegetable markets under health department scanner

JAIPUR: Fruits and vegetable markets in the state will be periodically inspected by the health department officials to check if they contain harmful chemicals like insecticides or pesticides beyond acceptable limits.

The health department is planning to intensify its efforts to keep a check on fruits and vegetable markets in the state. The health department on January 23 wrote to all chief medical health officers (CMHOs) in the state to conduct periodical inspections and monitoring of major fruit and vegetable markets. Along with the directions, the health department has attached a circular of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, which has all the details of how the periodical inspections and monitoring of major fruits and vegetable market could be done.

A senior health department official said they have already directed the CMHOs to conduct periodic inspections so that they could check the use of carbide in ripening of fruits. As per the surveillance plan for fruits and vegetable, the health department would collect samples of seasonal fruits and vegetables. Minimum number of 10 of each fruit and 10 of each vegetable would randomly be collected from each market in every three months.

As per the directions, analysis of fruits and vegetables will be done on physical parameters, heavy metals and crop contaminants and microbiological parameters. In microbiological parameters, there is total plate count, yeast and mold, E. coli, coliforms, B. cereus, salmonella, shagella would be checked in vegetables and fruits as they are harmful for health.

The officials have been directed to send the samples collected to laboratories authorized by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India. However, a government-run laboratory official pointed out that so far samples of milk, mawa and other milk products come to them for testing but the samples of fruits and vegetables never came for testing.