Chandigarh health department warns against use of stickers on fruits and vegetables, issues 30 notices

Traders were advised to use functional barriers to avoid direct application of stickers on fruits and vegetables

The UT health department on Friday issued notices to around 30 fruit and vegetable vendors at the wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Sector 26 for using stickers on fruits and vegetables to make them look of premium quality.

A team of food safety officers made the vendors aware of the malpractice (Representative Photo)

“Use of stickers on fruits and vegetables to make them look of premium quality is common. A lot of times, these stickers are applied directly on food surfaces such as on fruits like apples, kiwis, mangoes, oranges, bananas, pears, and some common fruits. A wide variety of adhesives is used on these stickers to paste them effectively. The safety of these adhesives is not known. It may contain harmful chemicals that may affect human health. The risk of consuming these adhesives is high in case of fruits or vegetables consumed with skin,” a release by the health department stated.

To put a stop to such practices, a team of food safety officers inspected the Sector 26 wholesale markets and made the vegetable and fruit vendors aware about the need to stop use of such practices. They were issued notices to stop pasting such stickers on fruits and vegetables.

Traders were advised to use functional barriers to avoid direct application of stickers on fruits and vegetables.

“A few fruits can be packed in transparent thin films on which these stickers may be applied,” the department stated.