The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Selling garden-fresh `toxin'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 23, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Selling garden-fresh `toxin'

M. Sai Gopal

CLING TO CAUTION: It's all colour and less substance for mangoes this year. — Photo: Satish H.

HYDERABAD: Surprised that your first lot of Banginapalli this year is not all that juicy and sweet to rave about? Don't blame the fruit seller for that. He is just a cog in a huge con trick being played on mango lovers.

Fruit merchants at Gaddiannaram fruit market, the biggest centre for mangoes in the city, are using a toxic chemical, calcium carbide, to hasten the natural ripening process of mangoes, posing grave danger to those consuming the king of fruits.

Just a case of cold business logic prevailing over public health safety!

Hide and seek?

Of course, not a single official from the Health Department or the Department of Horticulture, were to be seen on Thursday, when the chemical was being sold openly in the market. The marketing officials had seized large amounts of calcium carbide a couple of days ago, but the makeshift outlets cropped up once again in the same region.

"Carbide is toxic. Most of the traders are amateurs and they use large amounts of it in haste. There are traces of arsenic and phosphorus in carbide and they are not good for the body. They will damage health in the long run," says public health expert from National Institute of Nutrition A. Lakshmaiah.

Packets containing calcium carbide are spread on tables and a kilo of the chemical is being sold for Rs. 40. " We have to conduct raids more regularly to curb this menace," concedes Additional Director (Horticulture) K. Surendranath.

It works thus

Calcium carbide contains chemical acetylene, which mimics ethylene, a natural ripening agent found in fruits. "We wrap it in paper, place it in mango crates and leave it for two days. The third day, you will have ripe mangoes," is the reply from Ashok, a seller.

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