We really feel impatient sometimes to eat our favourite fruits in off seasons. In this way, sometimes we invite several diseases because such fruit may be artificially ripened by calcium carbide (CaC2) which can really affect our health.
Calcium carbide is wrapped in some cloth and then is kept in a box where fruit is also kept. Here chemical reaction takes place because of moisture present in fruit and acetylene gas produces which accelerates the ripening process in fruit. Such ripened fruit no doubt looks more appealing to eyes but, in reality, tastes not so good as the naturally ripened fruit does. Calcium carbide also contains some amount of arsenic and phosphorus. So a fruit ripened by it can cause diseases like cancer, abnormalities, etc. In most of the countries, it is banned.
