TRICHY: With the onset of summer, mangoes of all hues have started arriving in the market with most fruit and vegetable shops and even hawkers selling them. However, food safety department has warned of strict action against use of carbide stones for artificially ripening the fruit, a practice often resorted to.
Mangoes have been available in and around Trichy for the past two weeks. Since very few people manage to detect the use of artificial ripeningagents, mangoes have been selling like hot cakes thanks to the scorching summer.
The food safety officials and health department of Trichy corporation had seized tonnes of artificially-ripened mangoes from godowns in previous years and destroyed them.
"Nobody can deny the prevalence of artificially ripened mangoes in the shops. Consumers can indeed differentiate between the naturally ripened mangoes and the artificial ones. But they are unable to identify them due to their ignorance. So, a huge responsibility lies on the food safety department to check the violation and save the people from health problems," said president of Federation of Consumer and Service Organizations, Trichy, M Sekaran.
The district receives mango varieties from Natham in Dindigul district, Salem, Thiruthuraipoondi, Vedharanyam besides from Thurvarankurichi and Srirangam in the district. While the mangoes from farms in Srirangam are sold by a particular group of vendors in Mambalachalai, those from other places are available in other shops.
However, the vendors dismiss the allegations of using carbide stones. "Mangoes available in our shops are ripened in natural way with an intention to sell healthy fruit to the people," said a vendor M Satheeshkumar. Food safety department has deputed three food safety officers (FSOs) to visit the godowns and shops to check the mangoes.
"We have started inspecting the g-downs and shops in our district. We have not found any trace of ripening through the carbide stones this year. If anyone has any health complaints due to the consumption of mangoes, he or she can report to the food safety department," said designated officer, Trichy Dr C Sureshbabu on Thursday. Food safety department is planning to conduct a training programme for the vendors on alternate method of ripening through ethylene gas.
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