A dose of health or poison?

Photo: YAP CHEE HONG/The Star

MY father was a grocer in Kedah, and I grew up helping him place calcium carbide (CaC2, commonly known as kabat in Kedah) at the bottom of boxes holding unripe bananas, which he would sell once ripened.

When he sold them, he would disclose to customers which fruits had been treated with CaC2. My mother didn’t like this as she thought it might make it harder to sell some of the fruits. But my father explained that, ironically, some customers would not buy organically ripened bananas because they did not look appealing, and using CaC2 ensured consistency across every bunch of bananas.