By AKM Moinuddin
DHAKA, MAY 21: High-priced summer fruits, now available in the capital’s markets, lack their original classic taste as these are mostly treated with chemicals for quick ripening that causes serious health hazard. The attractive look of the seasonal fruits, treated by greedy traders with toxic chemicals like Calcium Carbide, allures ordinary consumers, though these are harmful for health. Conscious consumers, worried by the use of harmful chemicals to ripen the fruits, expressed resentment as no action is being taken against the unscrupulous traders.
Narrating how he ripens fruits and give them fresh look, a fruit trader named Amin said, “We use medicine to help ripen bananas and papaya that also give a nice yellow colour.” Asked to name the medicine, he said: “I am not sure about the name, but it works like magic. This medicine is available in every pharmacy in the city.”
Dr Deba Prasad Bhattacharjee, a practising general physician, said consuming chemically treated fruits might cause kidney failure and could also affect brain. In the long term, consumption of such fruits might cause cancer.
Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), the regulatory body which monitors quality of foods, emphasises creating mass awareness about health hazards posed by the chemically-treated fruits. “Drive against dishonest traders is simply a regulatory function. We conduct drives twice a week against such malpractice,” BSTI director general AK Fazlul Ahad told this correspondent over phone.
He said awareness among consumers and traders would work better. “The media can also help create awareness in this regard,” he said.
Mentioning workforce limitation, the BSTI D-G said: “We don’t have our own magistrate. We don’t even get sufficient magistrate in time to conduct drives.
He said the BSTI will soon organise a food fair in the capital with participation of traders who will be given a message to stay away from any malpractice.
Prices of summer fruits, both local and foreign varieties that flood the fruit-corners in the city markets and roadside outlets, are forbidding for the ordinary consumers so far this season. Indian mangoes that look fresh and enticing are being sold at Tk 100-Tk 140 per kg, while the local varieties of mango like Himsagar of Satkhira are going for Tk 80-Tk 100 per kg.
Watermelon is being sold at Tk 50-Tk 200 each, depending on their size, colour and taste, while pineapple is going for Tk 20-Tk 40 per piece. Papaya meanwhile is selling at Tk 30-Tk 60 per piece.
END/UNB/AKM
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