European Journal of Nutrition & Food Safety

Aims: To provide a comprehensive summary of what has been published about the effects of calcium carbide (CaC₂) as a fruit-ripening agent and to determine the necessity or not to develop awareness among government agencies, policymakers, farmers, vendors, and scientists in order to best address different aspects of artificial fruit ripening issues and to provide more profitable solutions for global health preservation.

Methodology: Scientific information about the effects of CaC₂ published elsewhere was reviewed. Online databases of scientific journals which include Wiley Online Library, Science Direct, PubMed, CAS, CABI, AJOL and Google Scholar were used to select valuable studies.

Results: Most studies have reported the hazardous potential of CaC₂ as a ripening agent. Among other potential effects that were discovered through laboratory investigations are the adulteration of nutritional values of ripened fruits and direct or indirect toxicity in studied living systems such as genotoxicity and cytotoxicity to dividing cells, increase of the cellular oxidative stress, disturbance of the redox balance of the cell, estrogenic disruptions, increase of the white blood cells and Lymphocytes, alteration of hematopoiesis, alteration of sperm cells, a decrease of the fertility rate, weakness of the immune system, etc.).

Conclusion: Overall, this review provides comprehensive information on what is known about the effects of CaC₂ and showed the necessity to discourage its application as an artificial fruit ripening agent through the establishment of laws and regulations for better control of its use in most developing countries.