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Illegal chemical ripening method imperils India's mango trade

PTI Jun 2, 2008, 10.02am IST

CHENNAI: India's Rs.3 billion ($70 million) mango trade is fraught with health hazards due to the get-rich-quick schemes of vendors who artificially ripen the fruit using a harmful chemical.





Using artificial methods of ripening fruit is punishable under law, as it falls under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.



N.K. Aher, a wholesaler of mangoes in the Mahatma Phule Market in south Mumbai, told IANS over phone that mangoes were being widely treated with chemicals in Maharashtra. However, since no complaints have been made to the authorities, the practice was going on unchecked.

"This method of ripening is a south Indian import into the rest of India that can affect the Rs.3 billion-rupee nationwide annual turnover in mango trade. In Maharashtra, this has been going on for almost a year now. Even the world famous Alphonso mangoes sold in India have some chemical residues. As complaints are nonexistent, no remedial measures have been initiated," said Aher, who also exports fruit.



There is of course, a bigger danger.

"Calcium carbide reacts exothermically with water forming calcium hydroxide and acetylene, an extremely inflammable gas. The heat of the reaction can be sufficient to raise the temperature above the ignition point for acetylene (305 degrees C) and upon mixture with air is likely to explode," according to a study conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison published in 2003.

Acetylene - a gas used in metal cutting with a concentrated flame - can burn underwater at over 1,000 degrees C and result in an explosion when in contact with a naked flame, enough to bring down a whole market. People in the vicinity can suffer up to 80 percent burns. This can even be mistaken for terrorist violence resulting in time-consuming investigations and fear, police sources said.