Traders selling fruit ripened or treated with harmful chemicals will face prosecution from April 1, 2027, Trade Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe has announced, setting an 18-month runway between the launch of a national certification programme and the point at which the law is enforced against those outside it.
The minister made the announcement at the launch of a national programme for children’s fruit safety in Colombo on Thursday, Hiru News reported.
A phased timetable, not an immediate ban
The programme runs in three stages:
- From October 1, 2026 — registration and an awareness campaign for fruit shops and wholesale distributors island-wide. Traders are to be instructed on ripening fruit without toxic chemicals, on harvesting, and on distributing to consumers.
- By March 2027 — businesses selling toxic-free fruit are to be identified, and the Consumer Affairs Authority will issue them a special certification.
- From April 1, 2027 — legal action under the relevant gazettes will be strictly enforced against those selling fruit treated with harmful chemicals.
Fruit-selling locations across the country are to be mapped, and a QR code system introduced so consumers can identify certified outlets.
What the CAA says it is trying to build
Newswire, citing the Consumer Affairs Authority, reported the initiative under the title “Poison-Free Fruits for Children” and said registered traders will be educated on safer practices across the whole supply chain — harvesting, ripening, transport and retail sale.
The CAA’s stated position is that the programme is meant to go beyond inspections and prosecutions, and to build a fruit supply chain involving farmers, distributors, traders and consumers rather than policing the retail end alone.
Context
The scheme is the enforcement stage of work the Trade Ministry has been running through 2026. Earlier in the year the ministry was reported to be weighing certification for hygienic ripening facilities, promotion of Good Agricultural Practices among growers and distributors, and the procurement of rapid test kits able to detect chemical residues in fruit quickly. Those earlier reports described a plan under discussion; Thursday’s launch is the first time a date for prosecutions has been attached to it.
Not reported
Neither report names the chemicals at issue, cites any measurement of how widespread chemical ripening is in the Sri Lankan market, or specifies the gazettes under which traders will be prosecuted or the penalties they carry. Neither says whether certification will be free or charged for, what happens to uncertified traders who are not using harmful chemicals, or who will carry out the testing.
Of the verified Sri Lankan newsrooms LankaNewz tracks, only Hiru News had filed its own account of the launch when this article was published; the Daily Mirror’s latest-news listing carried nothing on it. Newswire is not a verified newsroom for credibility purposes but is cited here for the Consumer Affairs Authority’s own framing of the programme.
