Team Herald

CANACONA: Amidst allegations of usage of chemicals dangerous to human health in food items, Canacona residents caught a mango vendor while applying artificial ripening chemical suspected to be calcium carbide for mangoes which he was selling at the weekly market in Canacona on Saturday. 

In the midst of accusations of formalin in fish preservation, incident of alleged usage of chemicals to artificially ripen the fruits witnessed at the weekly bazaar on Saturday has shocked the residents of Canacona and left them wondering if the food they are consuming is itself the reason for the rise in health related issues which are till now passed on as lifestyle diseases.

After the incident of a vendor applying a chemical supposed to be calcium carbide to mangoes came to light, Diogo Da Silva told Herald said that he had suspected the use of chemicals to enhance the process of ripening of fruits like mangoes and bananas by vendors at Chaudi market.

“I had submitted a complain to the government authorities on Friday regarding usage of chemicals not only to fasten fruit ripening but also the use of boric acid in rice storage amongst other issues. My apprehensions came true when a vigilant customer caught the vendor red handed while applying artificial ripening chemicals to the mangoes he was selling,” Da Silva said.

Wilson Fernandes, a local resident, who saw a vendor applying a chemical powder on totapuri mangoes when he visited the market on Saturday afternoon, he immediately raised an alarm and called members of NGOs who in turn called the police at the scene of offence. 

The police swiftly took the accused vendor Suresh Fakirappa Upin, a resident of Haveri in Karnataka and the mangoes he was selling together with the chemical wrapped in newspaper in their possession and informed the FDA authorities for suitable action in the matter.

A three-member team  of Food and Drugs Administration FDA officials led by food safety officer Abel Rodrigues, Flavia D’Souza and Priya Desai reached Canacona police station at 5 pm and took custody of the mangoes allegedly laced with chemicals and the suspected chemical in powder form for testing at FDA laboratory at Bambolim. 

After taking samples of the mangoes confiscated by the police, the FDA officials together with police and alert citizens visited the market and confiscated about 1.5 tonnes of mangoes and other variety of fruits over the allegation by locals that most of the mangoes were raw and looked green in the morning and had turned yellow by evening suspecting use of artificial ripening agents believed to be calcium carbide which is being discouraged in India and worldwide, due to associated health hazard as it contains traces of arsenic and phosphorous, and once dissolved in water, it produces acetylene gas. 

On hearing the news of usage of carcinogenic chemicals for ripening of fruits, many locals gathered at the site of offence and demanded capital punishment for the vendor for playing with the health of locals. 

Sources at the police station said that all the mangoes of Nilam and Totapuri totalling over 1.5 tonnes suspected to be chemically ripened are barred from selling to the public and suitable action will be taken only after they receive the test results from FDA they said. 

However, till the mangoes where seized by the authorities late evening more than a tonne mangoes were purchased by shoppers as after the detection of usage of chemicals the vendors had reduced the rate considerably, locals alleged.