Looks belie their health hazards
AGRA : Banana looks ripe but turns out to be raw when consumed. Spinach has lost its food value. Coriander is bereft of its smell.
Welcome to the world of ‘doctored’ fruits and vegetables.
Dr Hemant Kulshrestha, head of the department (retired) of chemistry at St. John’s Degree College in Agra, says, “The use of carbide is common to ripen bananas. Calcium carbide is easily available and is used in burning lamps. The acetylene gas formed from carbide, with fruit absorbing moisture, leads to early ripening of bananas. The end product becomes toxic instead of being good for health.”
“There’s a race to increase the yield with even government being at ease with increased productivity. This has allowed such dubious techniques to become commonly prevalent now.
Oxytocin injections are commonly used for gourd. Vegetables, like brinjal besides pulses, are being polished to give them an extra sheen,” says Dr Akhand Pratap Singh, an expert in food preservation.
“The rampant use of pesticides and chemicals for better yield has landed us in a mad race. The quality of the end product is the casualty. The technique to ripen banana gives the fruit a cancerous property. It becomes oversized and generates better profit for the producer.
Cauliflowers too are becoming oversized with hormonal disorder caused by chemicals,” says Dr Singh.
“Shortage of water has forced small farmers to grow vegetables near drains. The result is that spinach has lost its food value,” he says.
“The solution lies in organic farming with government providing incentives to farmers going for it. There were traditional measures which are rarely seen these days. The spinach grown was rubbed by ash to save it from damage and this used to work,” says the expert.
‘The vegetables grown in India do not enjoy credibility in European nation, negatively affecting exports. The consumers in India need to be educated so that they don’t not fall prey to these tactics harming their health,” Dr Singh suggests.