To ensure that artificial ripener are not used by the fruit sellers to ripened fruits like mango, papaya, banana and watermelon, a Food Safety team of Food and Drugs Administration conducted a drive in fruit & vegetable market, Narwal and other fruit shops in municipal limits of Jammu. The team headed by Assistant Commissioner, Food Safety, Municipal limits, Jammu, Dr Parvesh Kumar and comprising Food Safety officers, Ajay Khajuria, Daleep Singh and Pervaiz Ahmed inspected over 30 establishments of fruit sellers in Narwal Mandi and in other areas of Jammu and lifted samples of fruits such as papaya, mangoes, banana and vegetables and sent the same to Food Testing laboratory for analysis and to detect use of artificial ripener if any. During the drive, the Food Safety officers asked the fruit sellers to keep their premises neat and clean, maintain personal hygiene level by washing their hands with soap and water frequently, use masks and wear neat and clean clothes and maintain proper social distance. They were asked to dump the fruits for shorter time and dispose of the rotten fruits immediately. They were advised to use clean, washed and sanitized all media of transportation for carrying out fruits from the Mandi to all shops and from different parts of country to the Mandi. The Food Safety officers directed the fruit sellers not to use artificial ripener to ripe fruits as it is harmful for the health of the human being. They warned them of stringent action if any fruit seller was caught using artificial ripener. Dr Parvesh said that such kind of awareness drives in different areas of Jammu Municipal limit shall remain continue to ensure that citizens get safe and nutiitious fruits and vegetables as people need to boost their immunity to win the war with COVID-19.
