Licences of 111 Indian spice producers cancelled by FSSAI

After allegations of ethylene oxide in spice mixes produced by Everest and MDH surfaced in April this year, the Food Standards Agency decided to issue alerts to create awareness among consumers. Subsequently, when the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) confirmed the absence of harmful compounds in the brands, a multi-city sample collection drive by the regulator for safety checks and reporting led to the cancellation of manufacturing licenses issued to 111 spice producers across India, over the past month.

The order, which asked companies to stop production with immediate effect, gave the FSSAI some more time to test 4,000 samples pan-India – which could lead to further license revocations. The samples, which include products from popular brands like MDH, Everest, Catch and Badshah, were all sent for testing – of which 111 out of a total of 2,200 did not meet basic standard quality parameters. Since the regulator is working with a limited number of centres, processing the samples and reporting the results took longer than usual.

Official FSSAI reports highlight that the majority of violations have been reported by small spice producers, who operate units in states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. When the safety authorities collected 34 samples of spices from MDH and Everest in May this year, the presence of chemicals was found to be false. However, the current round of testing of spice samples has included parameters like moisture content, insect and rodent contamination, heavy metals, aflatoxins and pesticide residues.