TRICHY: The rampant use of carbide stones for artificial ripening of mangoes has prompted the Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration in Trichy to embark on a move to train wholesale dealers to use the harmless 'ethylene' to ripen the fruit.
Being a climacteric fruit, mango can ripen naturally. But the time it takes for ripening naturally is not attractive to the wholesale dealers who procure tonnes of raw mangoes from the farms in and around Trichy and other parts of the state. Normally, a naturally ripening would take seven days which the dealers don't want to wait as they have to meet the demand. The easy way, the farmers found, to overcome the problem is artificially ripening using carbide stones which cause serious health complications to the consumers.
Unfazed by the actions by the food safety officials who used to seize the artificially ripened mangoes and bury them, the wholesale dealers continued to go on with the banned method.
In order to put an end to the concerning trend, the food safety department led by designated officer Dr A Ramakrishnan of Trichy roped in the wholesale dealers for attending a training programme to get to know about the 'ethylene' which helps mango ripen within 12 to 24 hours.
In Thursday's training programme, Dr Ramakrishnan explained to the various methods of ripening using ethylene. "The acetylene produced when using carbide stones mimic ethylene and change the colour of the mango from green to yellow leaving the pulp solid which is harmful to health but helpful for transportation. However, the use of ethereal which produces ethylene gas will ensure change of colour and ripening in short period," said Dr Ramakrishnan.
However, the traders are still reluctant to adopt the method citing physical damages to the semisolid pulp in the mangoes ripened using the ethylene gas.
Good initiative
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