In a first in the history of Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Maharashtra, a huge quantity of artificially-ripened bananas was destroyed by the officials on Thursday.
In a first in the history of Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Maharashtra, a huge quantity of artificially-ripened bananas was destroyed by the officials on Thursday. These bananas were being ripened using a lethal chemical normally used in the welding industry. They were being stored by two shop owners in a municipal market in Vile Parle (West).
Suhas Chaudhari, joint commissioner of FDA, said, “Normally it takes any fruit at least 15 to 20 days to ripen. But we had information about some shops in Vile Parle where bananas were artificially ripened. Our food inspectors were keeping a close watch on two shops and conducted a raid on Thursday. We found that these two shop owners were storing stalks of raw bananas in a closed room. The room had a tray which had a chemical powder called calcium carbide. The bananas were ripened in the room within 12-14 hours due to the presence and effect of the compound in the room. Needless to say, the bananas no longer remained organic after the chemical reaction.”
Dr. Sunil Bhagwat, professor at the University Institute of Chemical Technology, said,
“If you put even a bit of water on calcium carbide; it generates a gas called acitilin. It can also explode at times. This is a chemical which is known to generate a lot of heat and gas. That is why it is used in welding industry. He also added that it was a common practice to use this powder illegally for ripening bananas as well as mangoes.”
FDA officials confiscated about two tonne of banana which was artificially ripened using the method. They also recovered about 700 grams of calcium carbide. An FIR has been lodged with Santa Cruz police station.
Aftab Siddiqui, a resident who complained to the Baba Siddiqui — state minister for FDA — after noticing the problem for quite some time, said, “We have stopped eating fruits for the past six months. We were noticing that they were buying raw bananas and keeping them in a red chemical mix in a drum so that they ripe faster. They used to do this in the broad daylight. However, the bananas still used to be black from the middle and even hard at some places. It is a festival time, and more and more people would be suffering from consuming them and so we complained.”
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