ISSN: 1391 - 0531
Sunday April 20, 2008
Vol. 42 - No 47
Plus  

Beware of fruits - with Carbide

Tales from the backwoods by Haris Tumpane

Every time I returned to the land of my birth from colder climes, I kept hearing of fruit being ripened artificially, by the use of carbide. I must admit to having wondered how carbide and fruit went together when I had associated carbide with two applications that I'd heard about in my dim distant youth: welding of metals and as a source of gas that provided light (for their headlights) in early model motor vehicles.

The idea of carbide being utilized in the production of fruit for human consumption was a bit off-putting, to say the least. Anyway, shortly after I had returned to Sri Lanka for a more extended stay than previously, I was confronted with the challenge of dealing with a fairly substantial crop of mangoes on the land on which the ancestral home stood. The "younger" of these trees were in the 30- to 40-year-old range and some substantially older.

In any event, we had a significant crop of mangoes to get rid of, the totality of which could not have been coped with by our appetites and the appetites of our friends! Not having the time or the practical knowledge to harvest and market the crop, we went to what is now the traditional response in such circumstances: give the trees out on "lease".

To cut a long story short, the "lessees" wanted the use of one of the vacant buildings on the premises as it was necessary for them to stagger their harvest of fruit because all of the crop would not be ready for plucking at one time. It would, therefore, be necessary to pick and store the mangoes over a period of time. This seemed like an eminently reasonable request, so I provided them with the space required, little realizing that I had heard only half the story.

I soon discovered that the seeming innocent bedding down of the mangoes, as they were picked, was in good quality paddy straw, with each layer separated by jute hessian from gunny bags. When they had about four layers in place, they placed a container of the carbide solution in the pile and covered the entirety with plastic sheeting.

After several days, the mangoes were ready for market and could not be differentiated from those that had ripened naturally. When I inquired whether this process didn't harm the fruits or make them unfit for human consumption, I was assured that the fruit were completely unharmed and this was the way to ensure that the fruit went to market in the best possible condition etc.

I was told by a number of people that, not only was this method applied to mangoes, it was applied to the ripening of bananas/plantains, avocado pears, and many other types of fruit. In fact, I was told that this was the rule, not the exception, in the fruit marketing business and that all the seemingly tree-ripened, luscious fruit that one encountered had been tampered with to a significant degree.

A kinsman of scientific bent whose opinion was backed up by a PhD in one of the agricultural sciences however, did a bit of research and sent the following quote on to me:

"Calcium carbide is also used as a fruit ripening agent in Sri Lanka and other countries though its use is banned. Calcium carbide produces acetylene when mixed with water; the acetylene enters the cells of the plant and produces ethylene. Acetylene is flammable and poses dangers of explosion. Moreover the calcium hydroxide formed during the formation of acetylene contains toxic impurities such as Arsenic hydride and Phosphoric hydride that consumers may then ingest, harming their health."

I would think that further comment is hardly necessary in the circumstances, except to suggest to consumers that they need to be circumspect about what they buy, that retailers who have their customers' well-being at heart should be careful about what they sell and that government authorities need to get their behinds in gear and stop this health-hazardous practice.

 
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