It is a foregone conclusion that eating fruits is one of the best ways to keep healthy. As they say, an apple a day keeps the doctor away.
But chances are the apple, mango or banana you are eating may be doing you more harm than good.
The fruit business has experienced rapid growth as more and more Kenyans become conscious about maintaining good health.
However, driven by the urge for quick sales, unscrupulous traders are using harmful chemicals to hasten the ripening of fruits, uncaring about the dangers they are exposing consumers to.
After months of investigation, The Standard has established that there is an elaborate scheme to accelerate the ripening of fruits to meet the growing demand.
Our investigations revealed that some fruit vendors are using calcium carbide, a chemical used in manufacturing fertilisers and in welding, to induce ripening.
The practice has gained notoriety among fruit vendors and the fruit processing industry, and caught the attention of the Ministry of Health.
Some of the fruits ripened artificially are bananas, mangoes and sometimes apples and pawpaws.
Meru and Kirinyaga counties are among the largest producers of bananas and mangoes. Murang’a and Makueni counties are major producers of mangoes.
Major towns
The fruits are later supplied to consumers in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and other major towns in the country.
In a circular last November, Director of Public Health Kepha Ombacho accused vendors of endangering consumers by taking shorter and dangerous routes to ripen fruits.
“As you are aware, calcium carbide causes serious health hazards, including cancer, to consumers of these fruits and workers who are in direct contact during application of this chemical,” Dr Ombacho said.
But the warning has not deterred the practice.
The use of calcium carbide to ripen fruits is banned in many countries, including Kenya. Continued use has been blamed on poor enforcement of the law.
The Standard spoke to vendors in Nyeri, Meru, Murang’a and Kirinyaga on how artificial ripening is done. Some said they knew how to ripen fruits artificially but did not do it.
Kirinyaga County Public Health Officer Evans Kago said the affect depends on the volume and frequency of consumption of the chemical.
“Calcium carbide has serious side effects, chief among them being it causes cancer. You might not see the effects until the chemicals accumulate in the body. There is a maximum amount of this chemical the body can take. But when you go above this level, it turns into poison,” Mr Kago said.
At Whispers Market in Nyeri Town, vendors said artificial ripening of fruits was an open secret.