Use of stickers on fruits and vegetables

Chandigarh.23 October,2020:Use of stickers on fruits and vegetables to make product look premium are common by traders. A lot of times, these stickers are applied directly on food surfaces such as fruits like apples, kiwis, mangoes, oranges, bananas, pears some common fruits. A wide variety of adhesives are used on these stickers to paste them effectively. Safety of these adhesives is no known. It may contain harmful chemicals which may affect human health. The risk of consuming these adhesives is high in case of fruits or vegetables consumed with skin. To such practice, a team of Food Safety Officer, U.T. Chandigarh today i.e. 23rd October, 2020 inspected Sector-26 Wholesale markets of fruits and vegetables, fruits vendors were made aware about such practices and were issued notices to stop pasting such stickers on fruits. Around 30 notices issued today by the department. Traders are advised to use functional barrier to avoid direct application of stickers on fruits and vegetables. A few fruits can be packed in transparent thin films on which these sticker may be applied.