VIJAYAWADA: Food safety officials conducted surprise raids at Nunna mango market on Thursday and caught four vendors red-handed using calcium carbide to artificially ripen the fruits.
Acting on a tipoff, a team of officials led by food safety controller N Purnachandra Rao conducted raided the shops and recovered a few sachets of ethylene in cartons sold by the vendors.
"Sachets flashing Chinese ethylene powder were found in mango cartons to artificially ripen the fruit. Earlier, sachets of carbide powder were being used for ripening. Ethylene is widely used for ripening fruits. But we don’t know much about the powder," Purnachandra Rao said.
The samples were collected and sent to the laboratory for scientific analysis to check the presence of artificial ripening chemicals.
Raids will be continued for the next couple of days and stern action will be taken against the vendors if they continue to ripen the fruits using chemicals, he added.