Jisha Surya
Thiruvananthapuram: At least on the final day of National Mango Honey Festival, you can be sure that you are eating mangoes which are free from calcium carbide or other pesticides. A scientific test of the samples collected from the venue ruled out the presence of carbide and pesticides, much to the relief of organizers and visitors.
Samples of mangoes were collected for testing in a surprise raid conducted by the officials of Govt Agriculture College, Vellayani, the other day. According to the officials, the mangoes were tested negative for pesticide content.
The surprise raid was held on Wednesday when a team of experts led by Biju Mathew of College of Agriculture took mangoes randomly from three stalls. The mangoes were taken from stalls in Thiruvananthapuram mango growers’ association, Muthalamada stall and Kanyakumari mango growers’ association stall. The results came out on Friday and it was proved that the mangoes were not treated with pesticides or calcium carbide. Ten mangoes were taken from each stall for testing.
“Ahead of the event, we have made an agreement with the participating groups that they won’t use pesticides and calcium carbide for artificial ripening. They signed the agreement before participating in the event. Since there are various artificial practices, we took extra care to ensure that everything goes smoothly,” said project manager of the National Honey and Mango Festival Ajay Chandran.
It was a recent food safety raid held in Punalur in which truckloads of artificially ripened mangoes were seized that prompted the officials took extra care.
The 10-day event, which witnessed huge public participation, will conclude on Sunday. There were more than a dozen stalls of mangoes from various parts of south India. Not just for mangoes, visitors also made a beeline to buy saplings of mango trees at the venue.
Thiruvananthapuram: At least on the final day of National Mango Honey Festival, you can be sure that you are eating mangoes which are free from calcium carbide or other pesticides. A scientific test of the samples collected from the venue ruled out the presence of carbide and pesticides, much to the relief of organizers and visitors.
Samples of mangoes were collected for testing in a surprise raid conducted by the officials of Govt Agriculture College, Vellayani, the other day. According to the officials, the mangoes were tested negative for pesticide content.
The surprise raid was held on Wednesday when a team of experts led by Biju Mathew of College of Agriculture took mangoes randomly from three stalls. The mangoes were taken from stalls in Thiruvananthapuram mango growers’ association, Muthalamada stall and Kanyakumari mango growers’ association stall. The results came out on Friday and it was proved that the mangoes were not treated with pesticides or calcium carbide. Ten mangoes were taken from each stall for testing.
“Ahead of the event, we have made an agreement with the participating groups that they won’t use pesticides and calcium carbide for artificial ripening. They signed the agreement before participating in the event. Since there are various artificial practices, we took extra care to ensure that everything goes smoothly,” said project manager of the National Honey and Mango Festival Ajay Chandran.
It was a recent food safety raid held in Punalur in which truckloads of artificially ripened mangoes were seized that prompted the officials took extra care.
The 10-day event, which witnessed huge public participation, will conclude on Sunday. There were more than a dozen stalls of mangoes from various parts of south India. Not just for mangoes, visitors also made a beeline to buy saplings of mango trees at the venue.
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