Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: Beware of consuming calcium carbide (masala) in the name of consuming seasonal mangoes! Sleuths of the Food Safety Commissionerate, Assam, today destroyed six quintals of mangoes artificially ripened with calcium carbide in Fancy Bazar in Guwahati. Calcium carbide poses serious health hazards like difficulty in swallowing, vomiting, skin ulcers, etc.
The sleuths also collected two more samples of mango for analysis.
Fancy Bazar Fruit Market used to send mangoes and other fruits to various markets in Guwahati and other places in the state. The sleuths’ discovery of the use of calcium carbide to artificially ripen mangoes strongly suggests that artificially ripened fruits have flooded the fruit markets in the state.
Be it the artificial ripening of mangoes, bananas or other fruits, such malpractices take place under the very noses of the authorities concerned in the state. This situation is despite the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issuing orders to all commissioners of food safety of all states from time to time. This year too, the FSSAI issued such an order asking the commissioners of food safety and regional directors of FSSAI to intensify inspection and maintain strict vigilance over fruit markets and madis as well as storage facilities, wholesalers, and distributors, particularly where seasonal fruits are stored and use of substances like calcium carbide is suspected.
FSSAI also advised special enforcement drives to curb the illegal use of calcium carbide or other non-permitted ripening agents, waxes, and synthetic colours. FSSAI also said that the presence of calcium carbide on the premises or alongside fruit crates may be treated as circumstantial evidence for initiating prosecution against food business operators.
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