Lack of action may impact 40% spice exports: Traders

Aksheev Thakur

New Delhi, May 19

After five countries — Singapore, Hong Kong, Maldives, Australia and Nepal — announced to ban and investigate the alleged contamination of spice mixes sold by MDH and Everest, the Indian spice export industry faces a crisis.

While government agencies have taken a slew of measures to ensure quality checks on spices and curry powders before being sold in the market, the Federation of Indian Spice Stakeholders (FISS) has said India’s spice export may decline nearly 40 per cent if the issue of ethylene oxide contamination in spices is not addressed at the earliest.

“As per our estimate, spice exports could be affected by 40 per cent this year if the issue is not resolved quickly,” said Tejas Gandhi, secretary of the FISS, an association of nearly 600 spice traders, exporters and farmers from across the country.

On May 17, Nepal banned the sale of four spice-mix products by MDH and Everest due to suspected ethylene oxide contamination. Under this, Madras curry powder, sambhar mixed masala powder and mixed masala curry powder of MDH and fish curry masala of Everest have been banned in Nepal over quality concerns.

The food regulatory agencies in these countries cite the presence of ethylene oxide, a toxic chemical used as a food stabiliser, beyond permissible limits. It increases the shelf life of spices.