Crime Kukatpally / Moosapet

Two Borabanda vendors arrested for artificial ripening of mangoes

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artificial ripened mangoes

Hyderabad/ Borabanda: Cracking a whip against the mango fruit vendors who are flouting the FSSAI guidelines West zone task force police arrested two fruit vendors from Borabanda area of Hyderabad Commissionerate on Monday. The accused were using Ethylene for artificially ripening the mangoes.

The police have seized 160 trays of Mangoes from accused Mohd Moiz and another 80 trays of mangoes from the accused Mohd Sadiq. Each tray weighs around 20 kgs. The market value of seized mangoes was around Rs 2.5 Crores assuming the market value of One Kg mangoes at Rs 100. Further police seized around 200 small sachets of Ethylene. The accused who had shops in Borabanda used to supply the fruits to different fruit shops and Juice centres in and around Hyderabad city.

The West Zone task force team raided various fruit warehouses located in Borabanda, Hyderabad and detected the selling and supplying artificially ripened Mangoes on Monday. “Due to heavy demand for fruit, they are using artificial ripeners like Ethylene to bring unripe fruits especially mangoes into the market by breaching the FSSAI guidelines and using ripening material by placing directly them on mangoes,” said Hyderabad police in an official statement.

Health effects

Adding that, the accused vendors are using illegal methods of storage and ripening mangoes which are dangerous to humans causing serious effects to public health like respiratory and skin ailments. When used in excessive quantities, these chemicals can cause severe health problems like skin burns, skin irritation, inflammation, lung irritation when inhaled, arsenic in mangoes will cause heavy metal poisoning and other neurological diseases, added official press note.

The police said the accused intentionally used harmful chemical substances illegally for his personal gain by cheating the innocent public and violating FSSAI Guidelines. Further the accused was handed over to Borbanda police of hyderabad commissionerate for further investigation.