Nepal Bans Certain Spice Mixes From Indian Brands On Contamination Concerns

The Department of Food Technology and Quality Control in Nepal placed a ban on four spice-mix products by MDH and Everest on suspicion of ethylene oxide contamination, a cancer-causing pesticide

The Federation of Indian Spice Stakeholders (FISS) cautioned on Friday that if this concern about ethylene oxide contamination in spices is not managed soon, this could leave a detrimental effect on India’s spice exports.

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Indian spice-mix brands seem to be attracting the wrong kind of attention. Now, Nepal has placed a ban on the sale and import of some spice-mix products made by certain Indian firms citing contamination issues. 

The Department of Food Technology and Quality Control in Nepal said on Friday that it is placing a ban on four spice-mix products by two Indian brands on suspicion of ethylene oxide or EtO contamination, a cancer-causing pesticide. As such, the authorities placed a ban on select spice products, reported PTI.

The Quality Control department issued an official notice and said, “As residue contents of ethylene oxide are found to be exceeding the prescribed limit in these four products, the import and sale of these products are banned within the country as per Article 19 of the Food Regulation 2027 B.S. Our serious attention has been drawn towards media reports about the sale of these sub-standard products in the market, and they are harmful for consumption.”

Notably, this comes after Singapore and Hong Kong barred the sale of these products in their countries and issued a recall of the products due to the presence of EtO beyond safe levels. 

The authorities also called on importers and traders to issue a recall of these products. 

In response, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has since started the examination process to assess the quality of the spice mixes from several brands in the country. 

The Federation of Indian Spice Stakeholders (FISS) cautioned on Friday that if this concern about ethylene oxide contamination in spices is not managed soon, this could leave a detrimental effect on India’s spice exports. The body said this could result in a 40 per cent slump in the spice exports of the country. 

Notably, India remains among the top spice producers in the world and exports more than 200 spices and value-added products to nearly 180 nations. These shipments touched $4 billion in 2021-22, as per the Spice Board of India.