Govt’s Action After Indian Spice Brands Banned In Hong Kong, Singapore

Indian government has ordered food commissioners to collect samples of spices from all the manufacturing units in the country, sources said, after food regulators in Hong Kong and Singapore red-flagged a cancer-causing ingredient in certain products of two popular Indian spice brands – MDH and Everest.

“All the food commissioners of the country have been alerted. The process of collecting samples of spices has been started. The order has been given. In three to four days, samples will be collected from all the spice manufacturing units of the country,” top government sources have said.

“Not just MDH and Everest, samples will be taken from all the spice manufacturing companies. The report will come from the lab in about 20 days,” they added.

The Hong Kong and Singapore food regulators have warned people against using four products from these two spice brands over the alleged presence of ethylene oxide at “levels exceeding the permissible limit”. Ethylene oxide has been classified as a ‘Group 1 carcinogen’ by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Three spice products of MDH — Madras Curry Powder (spice blend for Madras Curry), Sambhar Masala (Mixed Masala Powder), and Curry Powder (Mixed Masala Powder) — along with Everest’s Fish Curry Masala contain “a pesticide, ethylene oxide”, Hong Kong’s Centre for Food Safety (CFS) said on April 5. The regulator instructed the vendors “to stop the sale and remove from shelves the affected products”.

Meanwhile, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) also ordered a recall of Everest’s Fish Curry Masala due to the presence of ethylene oxide at levels “exceeding the permissible limit”. The SFA posted a release on its website on April 18 that said it “has directed the importer, Sp Muthiah & Sons Pte. Ltd., to recall the products. The recall is ongoing.”