Investigation into Indian Spices

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Context:

• A crisis of confidence has gained in the Indian spice export industry as five countries announced investigation into Indian spices.

Details:

• At least five countries including Singapore, Hong Kong and the U.S. have announced an investigation into possible contamination of spice mixes sold by top Indian brands, MDH and Everest.
• The complaints cite the presence of ethylene oxide, a toxic chemical used as a food stabiliser, beyond permissible limits.
• The Spices Board of India in response has initiated mandatory testing of products shipped abroad and is reportedly working with exporters to identify the root cause of contamination.
• The international scrutiny has also demanded for the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to ensure stringent quality checks on spices and curry powders sold in domestic markets.
• Apart from spices, controversies have arisen in protein drinks, fruit juices, health drinks and imported Nestle baby products, due to regulatory lapses and heightening health concerns.
• Consumers are increasingly questioning the safety and quality of trusted brands, and food regulators in India.

Bans:

• Hong Kong’s Centre for Food Safety suspended the sale of three MDH spice blends (Madras curry powder, Sambhar masala and Curry powder masala) and Everest Fish curry masala. The spice mixes had high levels of ethylene oxide(a prohibited pesticide.)
• The U.S. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which had previously rejected food and spice imports from India and regulatory bodies in Maldives, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Australia have announced similar plans.

Previous cases of rejections in the U.S.

• The U.S. Dept of Agriculture had in February 2022 stated that India and Mexico were the top sources of pathogen-based food import refusals.
• Their study, from 2002-19, held Indian imports had the maximum number of pathogen-related violations. With 5,115 refusals — the figure represented 22.9% of overall import refusals for pathogen/toxin related violations.
• A scrutiny of FDA’s import refusal report, for the calendar year 2023, cites at least 30 instances wherein entry was refused because the products appeared to contain salmonella.
• These are agents known to cause salmonellosis — a common bacterial food-borne illness.
• Other than this, there have been at least 11 counts of products being rejected because of misbranding, adulteration, artificial colouring or incorrect labelling.
• The two causes have existed in combination as well. The report tabulates Ramdev Food Products to have had the maximum rejections in 2023 (about 30), followed by MDH (about 19), MTR (7), Everest (5), makers of Catch: DS Group (2) and Badshah (1).
• In September 2019, a recall of MDH’s Sambhar Masala was initiated in the U.S. after the FDA discovered the product was contaminated with salmonella. The recall terminated in December 2021.
• Another such recall involved Everest’s Garam Masala and Sambhar Masala, and Maggi’s Masala-ae-Magic in 2023.

India’s response:

• The Spice Board in India initiated mandatory testing of consignments shipped to Singapore and Hong Kong and gathered technical details and analytical reports from the relevant food and drug agencies.
• It also sought to propose corrective measures to the concerned exporters and initiate inspections to ensure adherence to relevant standards.
• A circular dated April 30, 2024, contains guidelines to exporters on preventing EtO contamination. The guidelines prescribe norms for testing at raw and final stages, storage of EtO treated products and use of alternate methods curtailing the use of the chemical compounds.
• The Spices Board issued a similar advisory in September 2021, after the EU observed EtO contamination in certain Indian exports.
• The FSSAI has directed state regulators to collect samples of major spice brands, including MDH and Everest, to test for EtO.

Challenge in ensuring food safety:

• Operational: India’s diverse food landscape, the lack of standardised record-keeping and intentional food fraud may prevent manufacturers from tracing ingredients and assessing potential risks which compromise the safety of the entire food supply chain.
• Traceability is particularly challenging for small and medium sized businesses with limited resources.
• Logistic barriers: At least 10 States/Union Territories lack government or private notified food testing labs, as mandated under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.
• Lack of manpowers: Food testing labs are distributed unevenly across regions; have insufficient number of food safety officers; and were found to operate ineffectively due to resource constraints, showed the FSSAI Annual Report of 2021-22.
• Lack of transparency: FSSAI’s operations often lack transparency, which hinders efforts to meet safety standards and to build accountability and trust.

Potential impacts

• Integrity and future of India’s trade: As per Delhi-based think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), “Nearly $700 million worth of exports to critical markets at stake, and potential losses are projected in over half of India’s total spice exports due to increasing regulatory actions in many countries.” This shows that the integrity and future of India’s spice trade is at stake.
• Impact on small enterprises: Such a chain of events could put other small companies or co-operatives’ exports under a cloud of suspicion and they will be impacted.
• Impact on farmers: Ultimately the farmers of such crops too could be at the receiving end. Instances where companies have not paid appropriate prices to farmers even when they were making profits, is common. Loss in companies could be used as a pretext to reduce prices, thus, burdening the farmer.
• Reduced exports: If regulators in China follow their peers in Hong Kong, and ASEAN based on that by Singapore, Indian exports could further reduce. This could affect exports valued at $2.17 billion — about 51.1% of the country’s global spice exports. If the EU also rejects Indian spice consignments over quality issues the impact could be an additional $2.5 billion, bringing potential losses to 58.8% of India’s global exports.

Conclusion:

• The recent controversies “collectively underscore the persistent nature of food safety challenges across various sectors of the food industry”. There is a need to ensure standard food safety and address the issue of contamination at the earliest.

Source

https://epaper.thehindu.com/ccidist-ws/th/th_international/issues/81678/OPS/GI5COEANS.1+GTDCOH6R8.1.html