article · Scientific Reports
Artificial fruit ripening with synthetic chemicals is increasingly used to meet market demand, but it alters fruit quality. An investigation comparing naturally ripened mangoes with those treated with synthetic calcium carbide and ethylene demonstrated significant physiological and biochemical changes. Applying calcium carbide induced rapid ripening within two days, yet shortened shelf life to three days, compared to five days for ethylene and six days for natural ripening. Calcium carbide treatment reduced moisture, fibre, protein, carbohydrates, and essential organic acids such as ascorbic, citric, and malic acid, whilst raising ash, total soluble solids, and reducing sugars. Conversely, naturally ripened mangoes preserved higher levels of key minerals, specifically iron, zinc, and copper, as well as superior organoleptic quality. Overall, while chemical treatments accelerate the ripening timeline, they severely compromise nutritional composition, safety, and fruit quality.
Artificial ripening agents, especially calcium carbide, compromise fruit nutrition, shelf life, and sensory quality. Demonstrating the biochemical losses, such as reduced vitamins, minerals, and essential macronutrients, provides evidence to support food safety monitoring and consumer protection. It underscores the importance of encouraging natural ripening approaches across the fruit supply chain to deliver healthier, higher-quality produce to consumers.
The findings can inform postharvest quality assessment, food inspection protocols, and regulatory testing standards used by food safety authorities and agricultural quality controllers. As early-stage comparative research, it does not present a commercial product or processing technology itself. Instead, the data could support the development of diagnostic screening tools or quality grading frameworks to detect chemical ripening in mango distribution chains.
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To meet the increasing consumer demands for fruits, the implementation of artificial ripening techniques using synthetic chemicals has become increasingly commonplace among less ethical fruit production companies in today's global market. The objective of present work was to establish a difference in the physiological and biochemical and profiles of naturally ripened mangoes vs. those ripened by application of synthetic calcium carbide and ethylene. The application of calcium carbide at 10 g/kg mangoes resulted early ripening in 2 days, with a 3-day shelf life, as compared with 5 and 6 days, for mangoes ripened by ethylene and naturally, respectively. Higher levels of calcium carbide reduced moisture, fiber, protein and carbohydrates content and increased the ash content of mangoes, as compared to higher levels of ethylene, whereas in naturally ripened mangoes the content percentages were 80.21, 3.57, 3.05 6.27 and 4.74, respectively. Artificial ripening resulted in significant loss of ascorbic, citric and malic acid, as values were recorded 35.94, 2.12 and 0.63 mg/g, respectively, in mangoes ripened with 10 g/kg of calcium carbide. However, in naturally ripened mangoes the amounts of these acids were recorded significantly (p < 0.05) high as 52.29, 3.76 and 1.37 mg/g, respectively. There was an increase in total soluble solids (TSS) and reducing sugars, and a decrease in titratable acidity in calcium carbide (10 g/kg) treated mangoes. Elemental analyses revealed high levels of minerals in naturally ripened mangoes, with significant values of iron (0.45 mg/100 g), zinc (0.24 mg/100 g) and copper (0.17 mg/100 g). The organoleptic quality of the fruit decreased significantly (p < 0.05) as a result of the use of calcium carbide. Although use of artificial ripening techniques provides speedy ripening of mangoes, there are obvious limitations. Consequently, natural ripening should be promoted in order to have safer and more nutritious mangoes.
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DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-52483-9
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