How safe is our food coming from conventional farms? (Part 1)

Those days I was staying in Gole Market area in New Delhi. It was peak of hot summer in Delhi. On one Sunday afternoon, I went to buy some vegetables in NDMC Market on Ramkrishna Ashram Marg, near Gole Market Chowk.

I was looking to buy some good quality Ladys finger. But the vendor there asked me to wait for few minutes as he wanted to wash the stuff before selling. I saw that he was dipping Ladys finger lot, in a tub of some chemical solution, which he had just made in front of my eyes. Immediately, I asked him to show me the bottle of that chemical.

I was astonished to see that it was 100 ml bottle of Malathion, an insecticide, which is used by farmers for pest control in Ladys finger & many other crops. The normal dose is 1 ml per liter for pest control but he had poured the whole bottle (100 ml) in about a bucket of water (20 liter approx) i.e. he made a five times stronger solution.

Now was the time for real suspense to unfold - the fruits of Ladys finger were pale green to yellowish in color, which means crop in the field, was severely infected with YVMV (yellow vein mosaic virus). I asked the vegetable vendor, what was he going to do with that solution for this lot of Ladiesfinger. He told me that this is a "magic solution"; and by dipping in this solution, all the fruits becomes uniformly green & look very fresh. And it did happen that way.

Till then, I was just a spectator but immediately, I objected to his whole washing action, saying that he made the whole stuff poisonous, not edible now. He asked me how, and then I explained him about Malathion & told him about this as criminal act that I will make police complain for his deed. He begged not to put him in trouble, with a firm promise that he will never repeat such act. Since I was a regular customer, he understood my caution & I forgave him. 

The objective of sharing this is not to scare people, but to educate and bring awareness of both positive and negative things that goes in our food system. It also stresses the importance of knowing the source of the food that you eat.

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In this series, author will be sharing his experiences with both organic farming and conventional farming (where chemical is used).