Mangoes have started to arrive on market stalls in the city of Tamil Nadu and with their arrival, officials from the city’s Food Safety and Drug Administration Department are asking traders not to use calcium carbide to artificially ripen the fruits.

 

District Designated Officer T. Anuradha, who conducted a meeting with traders and stockists on Wednesday 30 March, said that mangoes should ripen naturally and use of calcium carbide for ripening is against the law as it causes health hazards.

 

The chemical is banned under the Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011, as it causes diarrhoea, skin ulcers, peptic ulcers and irritation in consumers’ mouths, she added.

 

Officials said that natural ripening takes two to three days while artificial ripening takes less than 20 hours.

 

Officials said that naturally ripened mangoes would become yellow gradually and have good aroma while the ripened mangoes turn yellowish fully.

 

They asked the consumers to purchase mangoes and allow them to naturally ripen in their homes. During, the mango season, despite officials conducting raid in markets and warehouses, traders artificially ripen mangoes to make quick money. Traders were warned against such practices.

 

Source: Fresh Plaza

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