In a letter to the Union Health Secretary, Minister of State for Health Dinesh Trivedi has warned that vegetables on sale may be leading to nervous breakdowns, sterility and neurotic complications among consumers.

The minister has ordered combined research to be carried out by the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) and the ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) to uncover the long-term impact of chemicals on health.

It is common knowledge that most wholesale traders artificially expedite the ripening of fruit like mangoes and apples and inject colouring agents and sweeteners to make them look perfect (see ‘Beware of tainted fruit’, September 2009).

Dr Jyoti D Vora, head of department of biochemistry and food science and quality control at Ramnarain Ruia College in Mumbai, says, ‘Several vegetables and fruit are artificially ripened these days. But there’s no point in panicking unnecessarily, as there are ways to deal with this situation without totally excluding these important dietary constituents from your daily meals.’

Oxytocin is mostly injected by farmers into gourds, watermelons, brinjals and cucumbers to help them grow faster and look plump and shiny. ‘Chemical is a very general word. Any foreign molecules, such as grease, which is used to make brinjals unnaturally shiny, can cause problems like allergy, diarrhoea, and other infections,’ says Dr Vora.

‘The quality of soil used to grow vegetables should be chosen with care. Often we find very cheap spinach and coriander in the market. This is because it is grown along railway tracks, which are treated as open toilets and are strewn with sewage. When vegetables and fruits are unnaturally cheap there’s always a catch. In monsoons it is better to avoid leafy vegetables and increase the intake of folic acid which is abundantly present in  capsicums, French beans, fortified cereals and bread. These vegetables are not in contact with the ground and hence direct contamination due to soil quality is minimised,’ says Dr Vora.

Dr vora’s tips

• Be cautious of low prices. Often, pricing of chemically-induced vegetables and fruits is unnaturally low in order to entice consumers.
  Buy seasonal produce to avoid consuming vegetables and fruit which have been artificially ripened.
  Buy leafy vegetables from quality outlets, even if they are more expensive.
  Don’t buy vegetables and fruit in a hurry. Their smell is a good indicator of quality. It is also important to check for firmness and injury marks to make sure they have not been tampered with.
  Vegetables such as capsicums, cabbage and carrots should be washed rigorously. Soft brushes can be used to scrub vegetables and fruit.
  Add one or two grains of potassium permanganate (food grains not the chemical) to warm water. Soak the vegetables in this water and scrub them gently with a brush before cooking them.
  Avoid buying ready-made beansprouts. Chemicals are added to the water in which they are soaked to make them grow faster.