Brushing aside the objections over the directions issued by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) that permitted the use of ethephon for artificially ripening fruits, the Telangana high court has upheld the usage of this gaseous substance and dismissed three petitions that questioned the decision of the FSSAI.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili in its judgment also upheld the guidelines issued by Telangana and said that ethylene gas coming out of ethephon was far safer than the dangerous carbide gas that was being used till now to ripen the fruits.
As the state was found promoting one such ethylene product called ‘Enripe’ sachets, the bench said there was nothing wrong with it. The bench in its order said: “Ethephon in small pouches are kept to generate ethylene gas and there is no conflict of statutory provisions as contained in insecticides rules or the Food Safety and Standards Act. Similarly, regulated use of ethephon only for the purpose of generating ethylene gas also does not fall under section 21(2) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, which prohibits the use of any insecticide on any article of food.”
But, the bench made it clear that the state had still not discouraged the use of other ethylene products or sachets.Earlier carbide gas was used for the purpose of ripening fruits. The FSSAI, after a scientific study on the subject, had banned the use of carbide gas and acetylene gas due to their potential health hazards.
The FSSAI, in its August 16, 2018 notification, said that ethephon in powder form may also be used as a source of ethylene gas provided that it was packed in sachets and these sachets containing ethephon in powder form not come in direct contact with fruits, the bench said, dismissing the apprehensions that ethephon would be thrown on food like mangoes to get them ripened.
Source: Times of India
