Kashmir’s favourite Ramzan fruit, the watermelon, has gone off the iftar menu for many in the Valley after some doctors claimed that artificial ripeners had made it a health risk.

A government food safety official said watermelons are a “non-climacteric fruit” that do not “ripen after harvesting”, implying that artificial ripeners are unlikely to be used on them. He said the authorities were, however, testing samples of the fruit in sophisticated labs for any health hazard.

Fruit traders said watermelon sales averaged Rs 5 crore a day during last year’s Ramzan but had dropped by at least 50 per cent, if not more, so far this year. The Muslim month of fasting began on March 12.

Watermelons are not grown in Kashmir.

Dr Wajahat, a clinical oncologist at a premier hospital here, had last week warned that “off-season” watermelons, ripened artificially, could cause cancer. “This is no watermelon season, Say NO to artificially ripened watermelon this Ramzan. Save yourself from chemicals and later on chemotherapy,” he posted on X on March 8. Several doctors backed his claim.

Zubair Ahmad Wani, a fruit trader, contested the doctor’s claim. He said watermelons were grown round the year in India and had no “off-season” — an assertion backed up by the government food safety official who spoke to this newspaper.

“We are getting watermelons from far-off Bangalore and Maharashtra this time, where you have the harvest season, and not from places like Punjab where the harvest is still some weeks away,” Wani told The Telegraph.

“Traders had made big purchases ahead of Ramzan, but most people are staying away from the watermelons.”