HYDERABAD: Following directions from the High Court to check the usage of calcium carbide for ripening of fruits, Andhra Pradesh government has asked all fruit traders in the State to get themselves registered with the department concerned or else their business would be treated as illegal.
Henceforth, while giving license and registration to fruit vendors, the designated officers and food safety officers will take an undertaking from them not to use the calcium carbide for ripening of fruits and they would also advise the vendors to purchase fruits ripened in Ethylene chambers. Apart from this, the State government directed municipal bodies and officials from Commissioner of Food Safety to engage traders and other stake holders on effectively prohibiting the sale and use of Calcium Carbide.“From now onwards, vendors have to provide assurance to regulatory authorities that the fruits are not ripened artificially,” said KV Satyanarayana, Commissioner of Food Safety.
The Food Safety (Prohibition and Restriction in Sale) Regulations Act, 2011, bans sale of fruits ripened by acetylene gas or Calcium Carbide. Against this backdrop, the government issued instructions to the authorities concerned to ensure that all the fruit traders in the State get themselves registered with the department. With more than 90 per cent of the fruit vendors in the State not registered with the government agencies, it will be a hurricane task for the officials to get all the vendors registered.
According to a top official of the food safety department, the government has decided to treat all the business carried out by unregistered fruit traders as illegal and take action against them under illegal trade practices.
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