Artificial ripening of fruit continues to be a health risk
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Last month, when I saw an announcement on the food safety regulator’s website pertaining to artificial ripening of fruit with calcium carbide, I was overjoyed.
For over three decades, I have seen (and written) with increasing frustration, the continued use of calcium carbide to artificially ripen fruit, despite its prohibition earlier under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and now under the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011.
So I quickly opened the page, wanting to see what concrete action the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). I also thought I would see some compilation of statistics on the enforcement of this ban.
However, on going through the information, I wondered whether I was really looking at the website of the food safety regulator or a chapter in a school textbook!
In the entire text, there was absolutely no reference to the extent of the problem or the efforts being made by the regulator to protect consumer health. There was no mention of any plan of action or a time frame for its effective implementation.
The take away from the essay was that consumers must fend for themselves and learn how to ‘identify’ fruit ripened with calcium carbide.
It also explained the effects of calcium carbide on fruit quality and the attendant health risks. And how such fruit “may affect the neurological system by inducing prolonged hypoxia (low oxygen reaching the blood and tissues), which causes headache, dizziness, mood disturbances, sleepiness, mental confusion, memory loss, cerebral oedema (swelling in brain caused by excessive fluids) and seizures”.
While mangoes, bananas and papaya are generally ripened with calcium carbide, sometimes even sapota, dates and tomatoes are subjected to it too, said the article.
In short, the article, titled “Consuming fruit ripened artificially by calcium carbide may pose health problems” gave all information, except what a consumer reading it would want to know the most from a regulator —what is being done to ensure that consumers are sold only safe fruit?
It’s now 35 years since the government first introduced in 1979, Section 44 AA in the PFA Act, prohibiting the sale of fruit ripened with calcium carbide.
Yet, till today, the prohibition has not been effectively implemented.
When the PFA Act was replaced with the FSS Act and the food safety regulator came into being, one expected the regulator to look at the issue in depth, get a comprehensive country— wide survey done to gauge the extent of the problem, come up with alternate, safe and feasible method of artificial ripening and most important, plug the retail sale of calcium carbide.
But obviously, that is too much to expect!
In March last year, the government informed the Rajya Sabha (in response to a question) that following reports of use of artificial colours and ripening agents in vegetables and fruit, a Joint Committee for Research on Food Safety had been set up in August 2010 and the committee had recommended further research studies to generate information and data regarding the extent of use and effect of artificial ripening agents and other chemicals in fruit and vegetables. Four years hence, we still do not have that data! Is this the level of efficiency on issues of food and consumer safety? The Food regulator and the union health ministry need to give an answer.