Fruits whose ripening are enhanced by chemical can be injurious to your health, experts have warned.
Some experts have condemned the use of chemicals to ripen fruits such as orange, mangoes, banana and plantain, warning that it is injurious to health.
This was made known in separate interviews on a national survey conducted by newsmen on the health implications of artificially ripening of fruits.
Mrs Henrietta Ugwu, a Nutrition Officer, Enugu State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, told journalists in Enugu that chemically-induced ripen fruits might be the cause of the upsurge in non-communicable diseases in the country.
Ugwu said that the development by some unscrupulous traders using Calcium Carbide (CaC2) or other chemicals on raw food and other edible items was “very bad and evil’’.
She claimed that the Ministry of Health had raised awareness on the issue, but expressed regrets that it had not gotten to the consumers of fruits to make any impact.
Elsewhere,Dr Edith Nnadi of the Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), urged Nigerians to always wash their fruits very well before eating to reduce the effect of the chemicals on the fruit.
Nnadi said this chemical contains phosphorus among other things that were harmful to the human health.
“It is advisable to wash fruits very well since you do not know if calcium carbide was used by the dealer or seller to ripen the fruit, such as orange, banana, water melon and mangoes.
“Calcium carbide has the ability to alter cells into cancerous cells as well as cause other harms to the body. In many countries is an offence to use calcium carbide in ripening fruits,’’ Nnadi said.
Mrs Olajumoke Ojetokun, the South-East Director of NAFDAC, said that the use of chemicals and other unnatural means to ripen fruits was dangerous to the health of fruit consumers.
“One could get cancerous ailment, constipation and any other stomach challenge from consumption of such harmful fruits,’’
Read more on fruit ripening chemical
The taste of banana was one of the ways one could know and detect that it was not naturally ripened.
It is pertinent to mention here that, the fruits ripened with calcium carbide are overly soft but are inferior in taste and flavour and have a shorter shelf life. Such fruits may develop uniform attractive surface colour, but the tissue inside would not be ripe or may remain green or raw.
Calcium carbide is a dangerous and corrosive chemical. Carbide ripened fruits on consumption cause several harmful effects to human health.
Some experts have condemned the use of chemicals to ripen fruits such as orange, mangoes, banana and plantain, warning that it is injurious to health.
This was made known in separate interviews on a national survey conducted by newsmen on the health implications of artificially ripening of fruits.
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| Chemically-induced |
Mrs Henrietta Ugwu, a Nutrition Officer, Enugu State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, told journalists in Enugu that chemically-induced ripen fruits might be the cause of the upsurge in non-communicable diseases in the country.
Ugwu said that the development by some unscrupulous traders using Calcium Carbide (CaC2) or other chemicals on raw food and other edible items was “very bad and evil’’.
She claimed that the Ministry of Health had raised awareness on the issue, but expressed regrets that it had not gotten to the consumers of fruits to make any impact.
Elsewhere,Dr Edith Nnadi of the Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), urged Nigerians to always wash their fruits very well before eating to reduce the effect of the chemicals on the fruit.
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| Fresh fruit |
“It is advisable to wash fruits very well since you do not know if calcium carbide was used by the dealer or seller to ripen the fruit, such as orange, banana, water melon and mangoes.
“Calcium carbide has the ability to alter cells into cancerous cells as well as cause other harms to the body. In many countries is an offence to use calcium carbide in ripening fruits,’’ Nnadi said.
Mrs Olajumoke Ojetokun, the South-East Director of NAFDAC, said that the use of chemicals and other unnatural means to ripen fruits was dangerous to the health of fruit consumers.
“One could get cancerous ailment, constipation and any other stomach challenge from consumption of such harmful fruits,’’
Read more on fruit ripening chemical
The taste of banana was one of the ways one could know and detect that it was not naturally ripened.
It is pertinent to mention here that, the fruits ripened with calcium carbide are overly soft but are inferior in taste and flavour and have a shorter shelf life. Such fruits may develop uniform attractive surface colour, but the tissue inside would not be ripe or may remain green or raw.
Calcium carbide is a dangerous and corrosive chemical. Carbide ripened fruits on consumption cause several harmful effects to human health.
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