Beware Of Artificial Ripening In Fruits

By Author: Arihant Agro
Total Articles: 7
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Food and health security must be the top most priority of any Government towards its citizens. However, even today, it has been found that fruit and vegetable vendors in India use chemicals to ripen up the fruits and vegetables. Although ripening through usage of chemicals is banned in several countries, India still continues to use it freely. Also, by eating chemically ripened fruits and vegetables, we are at greater risk of long -term health hazards. All this can affect the vegetables and fruits exports from India to other countries.

The ripening of fruits and vegetables after storage has been used since many years due to the commercial advantages that it offers. It is done to achieve uniform ripening characteristics at a faster rate at the cost of its nutritional levels.

Several suppliers and dealers believe that stocking up of unripe fruits and vegetables is a waste to time and also loss of revenue. Less time taken by the fruits and vegetables to ripen means they can market them faster and earn higher profits. Thus, they resort to artificial means of ripening. Also, a significant amount of fruits and vegetables ...
... become undesirable in the course of natural ripening owing to weight loss, uneven ripening and dehydration. This again could hit the fruits and vegetables export from India by a great extent.

Chemical used to ripen fruits and vegetables are;
• Calcium carbide
• Ethylene
• Ethephon

Many countries, including India have permitted the use of Ethylene and Ethephon in a limited concentration as they are less harmful that Calcium carbide. However, due to the lack of knowledge of its usage by farmers and dealers, they have been used extensively. This has led several petitions to be filed against the usage of Ethylene and Ethephon too.

How to identify artificially ripened fruits and vegetables?

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