Nearly 12% of Indian-tested spices fail FSSAI quality and safety standards: Report

Close to 12 per cent of Indian-tested spices failed to meet the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) quality and safety standards after many countries took measures over contamination risk in two popular spice exporting brands from the country, reported the news agency Reuters on Sunday, August 18, quoting data collected from a Right to Information (RTI) response.

The FSSAI data shows that 474 of 4,054 samples tested between May and early July failed to meet the quality and safety parameters, according to the RTI response quoted in the news report.

The food and safety standard regulator told the news agency that it did not have a breakdown of the brands whose spices were tested, but the regulator was taking the required actions against the companies involved in the situation, according to the report.

"Action on non-conforming samples has been taken as stipulated," the regulator told the news agency, with reference to the penalty under the Indian law without further elaboration on the case.

Indian brands like MDH and Everest are amongst the most popular in India, which is also the world's biggest exporter, producer, and consumer of spices. Both brands told the news agency that their products are safe for consumption, reported the news agency. MDH and Everest sell their products in Europe, Asia, and North America.

The food and safety standard regulator carried out inspections that covered sampling and testing mixed spice blends after Hon Kong suspended the sale of some of the blends of the brands MDH and Everest in April 2024 due to the high level of a pesticide, according to the report.

The United Kingdom tightened the control of spice imports from India; at the same time, New Zealand, the United States, and Australia said that they are looking into the issues related to the brands, as per the report,

The news agency also asked for the open records on all the samples that failed the test in its RTI filing, but the response said that no such reports were available.

India is one of the biggest spice exporters in the world. Its domestic spice market was valued at $10.44 billion in 2022, as per Zion Market Research data quoted in the report. The country recorded $4.46 billion in spices and spice products exports as of the year ended March 2024, said the report.