GIVING COCONUT A FRESH FACE (SPREAD)

COCONUT sellers in and around Tema have tapped into the reserve of their ingenuity and marketing skills, resorting to the use of alum to bleach the skin of coconut to maintain its freshness and attraction to customers.
But their numerous customers are worried about the implications of alum for their health.
For years, consumers of coconut have displayed their dislike for the produce, especially when its colour changes from white to brown after the green hard cover has been removed.
In a Daily Graphic survey in Tema, Manhean, Kpone and Ashaiman coconut sellers in the metropolis confirmed that they were applying alum solution on coconut to maintain its freshness.
The survey revealed that coconut sellers who could not afford carrying cans of alum solution with them rather dipped their coconut in alum solution before setting off to sell to the public.
Those who sold the coconut on pushed-trucks always hid the plastic buckets and containers under the trucks and dipped the coconut in it before selling to the public.
The sellers, however, said that they were not aware of any possible effects of the chemicals on the juice or coconut.
Some of the consumers, who usually saw the sellers pouring the alum solution on the coconut, complained of a possible harmful effect on them.
Rather, customers go in for the produce, whose green cover has not been peeled or the ones which have not been affected by the alum solution.
In separate interviews, a seller, Kwame Akakpowho, said he was compelled to apply the alum solution when sales were bad or slow, and usually applied the alum while waiting for customers.
He said the colour of the coconut changed from off-white to brown after its green hard cover had been peeled off, making the fruit rather unattractive to customers.
Mr Akakpowho said there was the need to keep the fruit white as much as possible to attract customers because of the varying preferences of customers for fresh fruits.
Some customers, who the Daily Graphic spoke to were not happy that the sellers were adding alum solution to whiten the coconut.
They said they patronised coconut for its freshness, partly because of the widely held view that the coconut juice had the potential to heal some aspects of cardiovascular diseases.
Other customers were, however, of the view that the use of alum could not pose any health hazards, because coconut had a hard protective shell or cover to prevent the fruit from any chemical.
When the Daily Graphic contacted Dr Kaku Kyiamah, a scientist, he said the use of the solution should not be a problem so long as it was prevented from getting into contact with the juice and the lining of the coconut.
Dr Kyiamah noted that the alum had the property to prevent the coconut from fungal attacks and other harmful organisms.
He stated that it was even used in making water free from its muddy condition and also killing organic matters and, therfore, could not be said to be poisonous if used in moderation.
Dr Kyiamah, however, was quick to add that the alum solution could penetrate the inner chamber of the coconut if the supposed hard shell was tender.