GUNTUR: In the raids at fruit markets in the Guntur district on Tuesday, the officials seized 1,080 sachets of ethylene that were being used to artificially ripen mangoes. The joint raids were done by officials from food safety, vigilance and enforcement, agriculture and commercial taxes departments at Varalakshmi Fruits company and Syed Mirza Vali at Tenali fruit market in the district. During the checks, 22 tons of mangoes were found to be ripened with the use of ethylene and samples of the harmful product were collected.
Vigilance CI S Anthony Raj said 1,080 ethylene sachets were found during the inspections and each sachet contained five grams of the chemical product. The collected samples would be sent to the forensic laboratory for analysis and action would be taken against the traders who had used the prohibited product to ripen mangoes after the department received the lab report.
On Monday, the joint collector conducted a review meeting with the food safety and vigilance department officials and directed them to take measures to prevent the artificial ripening of fruits in order to avoid health hazards. At the meeting, the officials discussed the usage of ethylene sachets to ripen mangoes in Guntur markets. They added other ripeners such as calcium carbide--commonly known as ‘masala’, carbon dioxide and oxytocin were among the popular ripeners used for mangoes, papayas and bananas.
The regional SP of the Vigilance and Enforcement department, T Sobha Manjari, said 80 per cent of fruits were artificially ripened using chemicals, but their usage were also associated with many health hazards. As such, the department has decided to continue with the inspection, she added.
Hazard alert!
During the Tuesday’s raids in Guntur, 22 tons of mangoes were found to be ripened with the use of ethylene. Ethylene, in the form of powder, releases ethylene gas that causes fruits to ripen.