PALAKKAD: The seizure of 90 kg of carbide from a godown storing plantains at Vadakkencherry has revealed that the state is not equipped to counter the threat posed by traders, who use chemicals blatantly to mint profits at the cost of the health of the consumers.
“None of the Government labs in the state have the facility to examine the carbide content in the fruits. The samples of the fruits will have to be sent to the Central Food Technological Research laboratory in Mysore”, said a food analyst of the Regional Analytical Laboratory, Kozhikode. He said that once the acetylene gas is released, the carbide becomes calcium carbonate or calcium hydroxide. The seizure of the chemical is significant because the ‘mango city’ of Muthalamada is not far from the godown. During the season, mangoes are exported to North India on a daily basis. They are sorted, graded, ripened and packed from here. At present, calcium carbide is widely used for ripening mango and the acetylene gas liberated is highly carcinogenic.“The Vadakkencherry police received a tip-off from an outsider. They informed us and we raided the godown with the help of the police and seized the plantains and the carbide. Around 50 kg of carbide and samples of plantain were sent to the Regional Analytical Laboratory in Kozhikode on Saturday morning itself, “ said assistant commissioner of the Food Safety department George Varghese.
“Ethylene based ripening is the most scientific method used globally and even the smoke based ripening method adopted traditionally is harmful. During the season we ripen mangoes, robusta and papayas at Muthalamada”, said V Kumar, who supplies ethylene based chambers for a 80-tonne capacity unit in Muthalamada.
He said that the VFPCK has invited tenders to set up mobile ethylene chambers in all the districts, with a capacity of 1.75 tonnes each.In addition, there is the Agro Park in Chittur which employs ethylene-based ripening. The Park has ripening and pre-cooling chambers and is of four tonne capacity.
“The Muthalamada mango orchards, spread over hundreds of kilometres, are prone to the spraying of hazardous chemicals to prevent the flowers from withering away. And when the mangoes are harvested, the traders use carbide to ripen them uniformly and to pack them in boxes. The Health Department should periodically conduct raids at all fruit godowns,” said project officer of Wildlife Protection Society of India S Guruvayurappan.