Council issues health caution on longans and lychees - CHOICE # 333
(July 15, 2004)
The Consumer Council has issued a
cautionary health advice on the consumption of two of the season's
most favourite fruits, longans and lychees.
In a test on longans, the Council has
detected sulphur dioxide, used as a fumigant, on the peels of the
fruit. Out of 11 batches of longan samples, nine batches were
detected with sulphur dioxide ranging in quantity from 143 ppm to
453 ppm.
The chemical may provoke asthma
attacks in allergy sensitive people. Also the Acceptable Daily
Intake (ADI) established by the Joint FAO/WHO Committee on Food
Additives recommends that a 60 kg person should take no more than
42 mg of sulphur dioxide per day.
The test samples were sourced from
retail outlets in different districts including wet market stalls,
fruit stores and supermarket fruit counters, with claims of
countries of import from Thailand (8 batches), Australia (2
batches) and Hainan (1 batch).
The test showed that to the relief of
longan lovers, the presence of sulphur dioxide was confined to the
peels only as none of the longan samples had the chemical detected
in the flesh.
Fresh longan flesh is prohibited to
contain any preservative under the Preservatives in Foods
Regulation in Hong Kong.
Consumers, however, should be wary of
the risk of contamination if they immerse longans that are without
an intact stalk, in water in order to remove any chemicals or dirt
on the peel.
In the test, it was shown that
sulphur dioxide was somehow found present in the flesh, of about 54
ppm and 60 ppm respectively in the two bundles of longans without
an intact stalk which had not been detected prior to water
immersion.
As sulphur dioxide is soluble in
water, it is possible that the dissolved chemical could have found
its way to the flesh through cracks and openings on the surface. In
a similar test, longans with an intact stalk displayed no such
problem.
The proper way to remove sulphur
dioxide is, therefore, to rinse the longans under running tap water
and wipe them dry afterwards. The test showed that though this
could substantially reduce the amount of sulphur dioxide (up to
75%), it could not totally eliminate the chemical on the peel.
Consumers and in particular people
sensitive to allergy are strongly advised to exercise care to avoid
contamination when consuming longans: always wash hands, after
peeling and before consumption; and, needless to say, never bite on
longan peel or put the whole fruit into the mouth.
Lychee aficionados are also cautioned
to be moderate in the intake of lychees currently in season in
abundance in the market.
The Consumer Council is concerned
over recent media reports about an illness allegedly caused by
consuming excessive amount of the fruit.
The Council has sought the expert
advice of Chinese and Western medicine practitioners. Both
concurred that an illness could be induced by excessive consumption
of lychees at a time.
In the view of the Chinese medicine
practitioner eating lychees excessively may cause hypoglycemia
leading to fever, seizure and unconsciousness; whereas the Western
medicine practitioner's view is that if the subject is allergic to
lychees, it may cause such severe allergic reactions as fall in
blood pressure, gastrointestinal upset, respiratory distress, skin
edema, dizziness and unconsciousness.
But consumers need not worry unduly
as people who are not susceptible to allergic reactions to lychees,
eating a normal amount of lychees should cause no problem.
Diabetes patients should, however,
watch the limit the amount of lychees they consume. At the most,
they may eat seven or eight pieces a day and avoid other fruit at
the same time to prevent taking too much sugar.
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