VISAKHAPATNAM : The Food and Safety Department which is supposed to protect people from adulterated food in the district, has just two officials. One carries out field inspections while the second official is a supervision officer. As a result, in the absence of strict vigilance and enforcement, wholesalers and retailers of fruits liberally use carbide for early ripening of fruits.
In fact, there is a ban on the use of carbide for fruit ripening but wholesalers are using the chemical freely and selling the fruits in the market, at the cost of people’s health.
There is a good demand and market for fruits in Visakhapatnam district. According to the information, over 60 per cent of all varieties of fruits are imported to Visakhapatnam from the Rajahmundry, Ravulapalem and Tuni centres of East Godavari district. Wholesalers purchase fruits from the farmers during harvesting and use carbide for ripening them before they hit the market through the retailers.
In fact, the agriculture market committees are also responsible to check the carbide usage at the godowns itself. Except on a few occasions, there are no raids or preventive measures from the agriculture market committees.
Though the market committees have good knowledge and information, no steps are being taken to arrest carbide usage as the market committee members belong to the local areas.
“The use of carbide for fruit ripening is not a new thing. In fact, for the last three-and-a-half decades, we have been using it for ripening fruits. If we wait for natural ripening, there is no guarantee that the fruits will ripen evenly, leading to 75 per cent loss in business. No wholesaler will be able to stay in business if they rely on natural ripening. I don’t understand why the government suddenly raised such a hue and cry, confusing people,” said Bandreddi Appala Raju, a wholesaler.
However, he said that there were no cold storage godowns and other infrastructure support from the government and the present methods had been in use for the last several decades.
However, the officials of the Food and Safety department are only doing a perfunctory job.
The officials, on suspicion or on a tip-off, collect samples and send them to the testing laboratories in Hyderabad. The labs are supposed to send reports within 14 days of receiving the samples. If the samples belong to highly perishable goods, it is common for wholesalers to request the reports at the earliest.
But, according to the information from the department, reports take at least a week’s time, by when the fruits are sold.
“We can’t ask the retailers to stop selling fruits till the reports arrive. We are only two officers for the whole district. However, we collect samples from various places and send them to State Food Laboratory in Hyderabad,” said Shiekh Ghouse Mohiddin, designated officer in the Food and Safety Department, Visakhapatnam rural.
Though fruits and vegetables in the region are being chemically ripened, the food safety department does not have the facilities to detect the presence of calcium carbide and other chemicals.
Unless the department is strengthened with district-level labs, vehicles and sufficient manpower, food and fruit adulteration cannot be stopped, a senior official from Hyderabad felt.
“Not only seasonal fruits like mango, all regular fruits like banana and pomegranate are also ripened by carbide. It is impossible to rely on nature in fruit business. Some people suggest several ways for easy ripening, but ultimately the cost of the fruit will increase. Corporate companies use ethylene gas for manually ripening fruits for their outlets, so as to meet demand. They also have cold storages and other facilities, which we do not,” said Rothu Suryanarayana, a leading fruit wholesaler.
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