Authorities have assured the public that there is no evidence of growers injecting a cancer causing chemical, calcium carbide, into fruits to quicken the ripening process.
Speaking to the ‘Sunday News,’ the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA) Director of Food Safety, Mr Raymond Wigenge, said that calcium carbide is used in areas where fruits are scarce and that isn’t applicable in many parts of the country.
“Knowing that our neighbours like Kenya are testing their fruits for this chemical is obviously an eye-opener for us.
At the moment there is no reason for concern because the reverse is what is needed for our case, post harvest losses in fruits are high because fruits are perishables and we actually need ways to reduce the natural ripening and not to accelerate it,” he said.
Mr Wigenge explained that fruits have a gas called ethylene which is a natural ripening agent, but when there are shortages of fruits people use calcium carbide to quicken the process.
Mr Wigenge said that because the use of calcium carbide hasn’t been a priority for the authority, they have been concentrating on excessive use of pesticides in vegetables as well as the presence of heavy metals in water bodies found in valleys which is used for irrigation.
