Ripening of mango: China firm suspect

VIJAYAWADA: A day after the raids at the

Nunna mango market

here on Wednesday, senior food officials stumbled upon a startling find on how the traders are able to use a new ripening agent produced by a Chinese company.

Packets bearing the name of

Shandong Aoweite Biotechnology Co Ltd

flummoxed the officials when they were taking an inventory of the seized fruit stocks. "North Indian traders are buying the stocks from the Chinese firm using the online store

Alibaba

.com. The product is named ethephon. These north Indian buyers are selling the same to the south Indian fruit sellers who are merrily using it to ripen the fruits," Food Safety and

Standards Authority of India

(FSSAI) zonal in-charge N Poornachandra Rao told TOI. Poornachandra Rao added that they found the powder packet, the company name and place and clearly identified the date of manufacturing as well.

"The mango sellers are claiming that the chemical powder is not harmful. As per information, ethylene is not sold in India in powder form. There could be very serious health implications. We have sent the powder and the ripened fruits to the laboratories for ascertaining toxicity levels," he saidWhen food officials enquired about the powder, the traders said they did not know who supplied it.