Huge stock of artificially ripened mangoes seized

14 teams formed to check the practice being adopted by some vendors

DANGEROUS:Food Safety officials inspecting artificially ripened mangoes at a godown attached to a fruit stall in Tuticorin on Tuesday.

Seven and a half tonnes of mangoes, artificially ripened with calcium carbide, were found in a godown attached to a fruit stall opposite Tuticorin Corporation Office on Palayamkottai Road and seized by Food Safety officials on Tuesday.

A team of officials, led by District Designated Officer for Food Safety Dr. M. Jegadis Chandra Bose, found the artificially ripened mangoes during a surprise raid. The seized mangoes, which were unfit for consumption, were destroyed in a compost yard at Tharuvaikulam.

The harmful chemical substance was found concealed under heaps of mangoes. Officials said consumption of artificially ripened mangoes would cause serious health hazards such as stomach ulcer, loss of appetite, insomnia and even lead to cancer. Black spots were found in almost all the seized fruits.

Dr. Bose told The Hindu that 14 teams of Food Safety officials had been formed to check the harmful practice being adopted by somevendors.

On the directive of Collector M. Ravikumar and Commissioner of Food Safety Kumar Jayant, the official teams would intensify raids on fruitstalls and godowns, he added.

The vendors in the district had already been exposed to a new and legitimate method of ripening mangoes ahead of this fruit season. They were trained in using ethylene to ripen mangoes. Ethylene, which was secreted from mango trees, was used in liquid form and applied on mangoes. Mangoes at tender stage could be kept along with ripe papaya and banana, which had high ethylene content, for natural ripening.

“Since mango is a perishable item, it would be difficult to despatch it to quality testing laboratory for tests. Only when mangoes are found concealed along with calcium carbide, they could seized and destroyed,” Dr. Bose noted.