Chennai sources reported that seven tonnes of mangoes and 2 kg of papaya worth nearly Rs 5 lakh were seized on Monday, from the Koyambedu market in Chennai. As per report police also found 3 kg of an artificial ripening agent ethylene and disposed of fruits worth Rs 4.8 lakh in the Koyambedu bio-methanisation plant.
Meanwhile in the 4 hour long raid which started at 4am on Monday, the police checked 44 shops out of which 39 were found to be using artificial ripeners in their fruits, while 15% of the shopkeepers use artificial ripening agents, the rest use ripening chamber to mature the fruits. Furthermore to ripen mangoes, shopkeepers leave packets of ethylene for a few hours after shops close for the night. They remove them after a few hours and the mangoes would have ripened.
Further the police officers told for papayas,
baking soda is mixed in a 20-litre container of water and the fruits are
exposed to the escaping carbon dioxide in the holes in the container, and
moreover the shopkeepers admitted that they used artificial agents but denied
that these artificial agents caused heath problems.
