The Guangzhou Food Safety Information Network and China Food Network have exposed 12 commonly eaten "toxic" fruits, involving citrus, lychee, apple, pear, grape, watermelon, banana, peach, longan, mango, persimmon, and jujube. "Toxic" fruits often involve the excessive use of chemical agents beyond permitted scopes and dosages, posing a serious threat to people's health. Experts remind that merchants create these toxic fruits to cater to customer preferences, therefore, citizens should not "judge fruits by their appearance" and must put an end to the practice of faking and poisoning fruits.
Peach: Soaked in industrial citric acid
Honey peaches are soaked in industrial citric acid to make their color bright red and prevent spoilage. This chemical residue can damage the nervous system, induce allergic diseases, and even cause cancer. For semi-ripe crisp peaches, alum, sweeteners, and alcohol are added to make them crisp and sweet. The main component of alum is aluminum sulfate, and long-term consumption can lead to hyperostosis, memory loss, dementia, decreased skin elasticity, and increased wrinkles. White peaches are fumigated with sulfur, leaving sulfur dioxide residues.
Mango: Ripened with quicklime
Unripe mangoes are ripened with quicklime to make their表皮 look yellow and bright, but they lack the mango flavor and also have the problem of excessive use of preservatives.
Jujube: Dyed with chemicals
When soaked in boiling water, even the greenest jujubes turn red immediately. Some fruit vendors also use chemical dyes to color the jujubes and apply industrial wax to make them poisonous.
Banana: Ripened with ammonia
Ripened with ammonia or sulfur dioxide, these bananas have a tender yellow appearance, but the flesh is firm in texture and not sweet. Sulfur dioxide damages the human nervous system and also affects liver and kidney function.
Lychee: Color-changed with sulfuric acid
Soaked in sulfuric acid solution or sprayed with ethephon solution to make lychees bright and attractive, but they spoil easily. These solutions are highly acidic and can cause peeling of hands, blisters in the mouth, and even burn the stomach and intestines. Some fruit vendors also fumigate them with sulfur, and sulfur dioxide strongly irritates the eyes and throat, causing dizziness, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Sulfur dioxide can also cause cancer.
Longan: Color-changed with sulfuric acid
Sprayed with sulfuric acid or soaked in acidic solutions to make the color bright. Sulfuric acid is highly corrosive and can burn the human digestive tract. It can also easily cause colds, diarrhea, and severe coughing.
Apple: Color-enhanced with ripening agents
Using expansion agents to increase size, ripening agents to enhance color, and preservatives for preservation. The excessive use of expansion agents, ripening agents, and preservatives can damage the liver. Retail fruit vendors also apply industrial wax to apples to retain moisture and make them look fresh and appealing.
Pear: Ripened with growth hormones
Using expansion agents and growth hormones to make them ripen early, then bleached and colored with bleaching powder and coloring agents (such as lemon yellow). The treated pears have little juice and bland flavor, sometimes accompanied by strange and rotten smells. These "toxic" pears have a short storage life and spoil easily.
Watermelon: Enlarged with expansion agents
Excessive use of ripening agents, expansion agents, and highly toxic pesticides. The stripes on the skin of such watermelons are uneven, the pulp inside looks fresh, the seeds are white, and it has a strange smell.
Citrus: Polished with industrial wax
Excessive use of preservatives during storage, "beautified" with coloring agents during sale, and polished with industrial wax. Industrial wax contains impurities such as lead, mercury, and arsenic, which can penetrate the pulp, leading to symptoms like memory loss and anemia after consumption.
Grape: Turned purple with ethylene
Immature green grapes are soaked in a diluted ethephon solution, and after a day or two, they turn purple. These grapes have uneven color, low sugar content, little juice, and a bland flavor, and long-term consumption is harmful to human health.
Persimmon: Ripened with yeast
Raw persimmons are ripened with yeast or ripening agents, but the sweetness is greatly reduced. Some farmers also apply a chemical agent called "a shi ling" to the calyx of raw persimmons to make them turn red. These chemical agents leave residues, making the persimmons poisonous.
The reason "toxic" fruits are so rampant is that consumers often "judge fruits by their appearance." "Consumers buy what they like, so merchants produce what consumers like. We like to buy big, fresh-colored fruits, so naturally, some people cater to this preference. If consumers don't buy these problematic fruits, the practice of 'faking and poisoning' will not exist."