Ensure compliance with norms, govt tells Everest, MDH; inspects facilities

Aditi Tandon

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New Delhi, May 20

After Hong Kong and Singapore recalled batches of spices exported by industry giants MDH and Everest in April, citing higher than permissible levels of the ethylene oxide (EtO) carcinogen, the government inspected their export production facilities and asked them to comply with quality norms.

PREVIOUS RED FLAGS

• Indian fish and fishery establishments were delisted by EU over high antibiotic residue concerns. This has been reversed after improved compliance
• Japan at one time mandated 100% sampling for all Indian black tiger shrimps due to high antibiotic residues; sampling percentage has been reduced to 30% after better compliance by India
• There has been a drastic decline in alerts on Indian food commodities exports to the EU due to EtO. India began testing all spices bound for EU in 2022

Food regulator testing 3,245 samples

The FSSAI is testing 3,245 samples drawn from spice manufacturers nationally for EtO contamination after the MDH/Everest controversy erupted. Lab results are awaited. Maximum samples have been taken from units in UP (649), Karnataka (549) and Tamil Nadu (386). In the region, 101 samples have been taken from HP, 91 Punjab, 70 Haryana, 18 Chandigarh and 15 Delhi.

Contaminated batches of three MDH products — Madras Curry Powder, Sambhar Masala and Curry Powder; and Everest’s Fish Curry Masala — were taken off the shelf in April by Singapore and Hong Kong for high EtO levels. EtO is a pesticide classified as Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency in Research on Cancer. It is used in food as a fumigant to increase its shelf life. Although pesticides aid crop health, they can’t exceed maximum residue limits (MRL), normally established for most food commodities by Codex Alimentarius Commission (CODEX).

In EtO’s case, there is no CODEX standard. “Different countries prescribe different limits for EtO as the impact of its residue in food is scientifically not a settled issue yet,” officials said.

Hong Kong prohibits EtO in all foods; Singapore has a high MRL for EtO -50 mg/kg; Japan 0.01, US 0.02 and Indian food regulator has EtO MRL of 0.01.

But now to ensure safety around key spice export consignments (India is the largest global spice exporter), the government has mandated pre-shipment sampling and testing of EtO in spice consignments bound for Singapore and Hong Kong. So far, such testing for these two nations was not compulsory.

“The agricultural export quality standards have evolved overtime. Mandatory testing of export samples was put in place for ethylene oxide in all spices exported to the EU from 2022 after which EU’s EtO related alerts on Indian food commodities have drastically fallen. Now we have issued new guidelines to exporters asking them to avoid possible EtO contamination of spices across all stages from sourcing to export for all jurisdictions,” officials said, adding they were working on tracking mechanisms for top export spices from source to the exporter after similar systems were recently devised for grapes and peanuts.

The value of Indian spice exports rose from USD 3.78 billion in 2022-23 to USD 4.35 billion in 2023-25.

Asked why contamination occurred in the first place, experts said the source of contamination has not been determined. “EtO, if not aerated, converts into its metabolite 2-CE (chloroethanol), which is toxic,” they said, adding that its proper handling is required and new guidelines say all this.