Coronavirus kills toxic Chinese garlic trade in Kolkata

Feb 28, 2020, KOLKATA: One scare from China has led to a clampdown on a health hazard from the same country. The embargo on Chinese produce worldwide that has followed the COVID-19 outbreak in mainland China has cut off the supply lines of toxic Chinese garlic, which was being rampantly sold and consumed in Kolkata till recently.

Bleached in chlorine and fumigated in bromide-laced pesticide, Chinese garlic is carcinogenic and toxic. But demand for the variety is high in the local market because of its unblemished appearance and large cloves. The largeness makes peeling easy, which matters in commercial segments like restaurants and catering, where garlic is used in bulk. Many homemakers, too, prefer the Chinese variety over the Indian one for its ease of use.

The commerce ministry did impose a ban on the import and sale of Chinese garlic five years ago, but the variety continued to find its way in and retailed at all major civic and private markets in the city. That was until the news of the novel coronavirus broke and the garlic disappeared from the shelves, said Dilip Kumar Mondal, who sells garlic, onion and potato at the Gariahat market.

“The garlic was arriving through grey channels, and grocers were selling it to meet the demand. But, with the abundance of the local variety, retailers reduced their stock of Chinese garlic, even before its supply ceased,” pointed out Kamal Dey, West Bengal Vendors’ Association secretary.

Food technologists say eatting Chinese garlic could have major health consequences.

‘Health hazards include changes in metabolic rate’

According to Prashanta Kumar Biswas, associate professor at Jadavpur University’s food technology and biochemical engineering department, the garlic is sprayed with a fungicide that contains methyl bromide to prevent fungal growth for at least six months.

According to Pradhanta Kumar Biswas, the germ plasma that has been genetically developed to yield large garlic cloves has a dirty white or greyish-brown colour. The cloves are therefore bleached with chlorine to make them white and attractive. While bleaching kills insects, prevents sprouting and helps whiten the bulb, chlorine is a carcinogen.

“Both methyl bromide and chlorine get absorbed in the garlic and lead to formation of neurotoxins,” said Biswas. “Health hazards include changes in the body’s metabolic rate and disruption of pH control system in the stomach. To prevent sprouting, chemicals are used. We don’t know whether hormonal treatment happens as well. That would be further harmful,” he added.

Utpal Roychowdhury, head of the food sciences technology department at Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, pointed out that a Chinese garlic would also not have the beneficial effect that normal garlic has: allicin, a compound present in garlic that is believed to control blood pressure and act as a natural antibiotic and increase the body’s immunity, is present in very low levels in the Chinese variety.

Until the supply dried up, most consumers were blissfully unaware that the attractive-looking garlic is harmful. In fact, in many markets, retailers even suggested that the variety was beneficial to health. Kaberi Banerjee, who shops at New Market, said she was given to believe the garlic with large cloves was healthier, apart from being more convenient to use. “Had I known they contain chemicals, I would not have touched them. The variety is popular simply because it is convenient. Peeling one clove of that garlic is equivalent to peeling 10 cloves of the regular Indian variety,” she said.

Samir Kumar Banerjee, a general physician who lives in Kasba and shops at Gariahat and Lake Market, didn’t know the variety he was buying was of Chinese origin. “I thought they were a hybrid variety developed in India,” he said.