Viral Sach: Is artificial coat on apples making you sick?

New Delhi: What if the saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” goes horribly wrong and the apples that are said to make everyone healthy turn out to be harmful for consumption? Recently a video of apples leaving out wax when scratched with a knife is making a lot of buzz on social media. The video claims that the apples seeming to be fresh and extremely red are coated with wax and are very harmful for our consumption. According to the video the apple should be consumed by removing its rind so that it does not affect us. As per the video which is being circulated on the social media, “This apple is not going to benefit you rather the wax with which it is coated is harmful.” The video further claimed, “This apple is Chinese and our government is ignorant towards their masses. They don’t pay attention towards the quality of fruits that we are consuming.” After the buzz created by the video and the serious allegations that are imposed, ABP News took this initiative to probe the matter further. We picked three major regions: Jaipur, Patna and Lucknow. Our first evidence was found in Jaipur where it was confirmed that the apples are covered with a layer of wax. The same was followed by Patna and Lucknow. To confirm the credibility of the viral video we reached out to food adulteration expert and consumer activist Ashok Kanchan. He confirmed that this wax coating is used since ages. He said, “Traders use this wax so that the apples can be abstained from bacterial attack. The use of wax is permissible and is of no harm.” To further confirm it and find out if they are unhealthy for us we reached out to Dr. Naresh Bansal from Ganga Ram hospital’s Gastrology department. He confirmed, “Apples are coated so that the oxygen and moisture in them do not get lost.” He also added, “We cannot find out the type of wax is used on them.” According to him though we cannot find the type of wax used on the apples but we can take prevention by washing the apple properly, or cleaning it with vinegar before consuming it.