Hardly has the mangoes season begun, the markets are already flooded with artificially ripened fruits. It is also the time when food safety officials get busy conducting raids and issuing public awareness messages.
S.D. Balakrishnan, designated officer in the Department of Food Safety, said with assistance of municipal staff and revenue officials, we are conducting frequent raids on godowns of fruit vendors and seize the artificially ripened fruits. As the law permits us to impose penalty on the erring vendors, we will impose heavy fines on those attempting to artificially ripen the fruits.”
Mangoes are one of the best natural food usually consumed raw. These mangoes during ripening undergo physiological and bio-chemical changes which make them edible, palatable and nutritious. During this irreversible process, the fruits become soft, change in colour and develop characteristic aroma and flavour. There is also reduction in sourness and increase in sweetness of the fruit. All these changes are induced by the production of ethylene gas during natural ripening.
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However, the lure of the quick buck has led to unscrupulous agents using calcium carbide stones as artificial ripening agent to capitalise on the high demand for mangoes.
Calcium carbide is carcinogenic and is normally used for generating acetylene gas during gas welding process. About a kilogram of calcium carbide which costs less than Rs. 50 can ripen around 10 ton of fruits.
Calcium carbide is notorious for cancer-causing properties and also contains traces of Arsenic and Phosphorous Hydrides which make can render the fruits highly toxic if consumed. When calcium carbide crystals are kept in and around the pile of fruits folded in paper packets or cloth bags, they absorb moisture from the surrounding atmosphere and produce acetylene gas which aid in the artificial ripening process.
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The fruits are sent to distant places requiring several days for transportation and only firm and mature fruits are least damaged during marketing. Fruit traders pluck them when they are raw so as to keep the fruits long enough to sell them off before they rot. This is where artificial ripening plays a role in giving a ripe look to fruits much earlier than the normal period of seven to ten days that it takes the fruit to undergo ripening process naturally.
The long duration taken for natural ripening is a loss for some traders as they have to store the fruits for a longer period resulting in monetary loss. Hence they resort to artificial ripening, officials said.
Food Safety Officer I. Danaraju said, “Fruits ripened with calcium carbide are overly soft, are inferior in taste and flavour. They also have a shorter shelf-life.”
Corrosive chemical
Calcium carbide is a corrosive chemical with carcinogenic properties. The hydride of Arsenic and Phosphorus present in the calcium carbide cause vomiting, diarrhoea with or without blood, burning sensation of chest and abdomen, thirst, weakness, difficulty in swallowing, irritation in the eyes and skin, permanent eye damage, ulcers on the skin, sore throat, cough and shortness of breath. Higher exposure may cause a build-up of fluids in the lungs.
Consumption of fruits ripened with calcium carbide causes stomach upset by eroding the mucosal tissues in the stomach and disrupts intestinal functions. It also affects neurological system by reduced supply of oxygen to body tissues and organs resulting in headache, dizziness, mood disturbances, drowsiness, mental confusion, memory loss, swelling in the brain caused by excessive fluids and seizure.
Consumption of fruits ripened with calcium carbide causes stomach upset as it disrupts intestinal functions