Spices Board inspecting MDH, Everest plants; efforts on to improve compliance

Data shared by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on Monday showed that Maximum Residue Levels (MRL) levels for EtO in Singapore was 50 mg/kg, while it stood at 0.02 to 0.01 mg/kg in the European Union and 0.01 in Japan. The comparable number for the US and Canada was 7 mg/kg. EtO is prohibited to be used in food products in Hong Kong. “In 2023-24, 99.8 per cent of around 1.4 million tonnes of spices have met quality requirements of different countries, and only 0.2 per cent of all consignments were non-compliant. On the other hand, 0.73 per cent of imported food consignments were non-compliant. There is a drastic decline in alerts on Indian food commodities exports to the European Union on account of EtO,” a senior official said.

Another official clarified that EtO is a very normal fumigant which is used in food and pharma products and if aeration is done properly, EtO goes out of the system and does not pose a problem. But if it is not aerated properly, it interacts with the chlorine in food particles to become 2-Chloroethanol, the official added.

“If you look at the majority of food, there is a CODEX committee under WTO which provides minimum residue levels. We treat it as international standards. Now, developed countries are improving the MRL levels. If CODEX says it should be 1, developed countries make it 0.1. India is largely aligned to CODEX,” the official stated.

Officials also pointed out that every country arrives at a different residue level as it depends on the dietary choices. “We should not believe that if a product breaches MRL levels in one country, it cannot be consumed. Some other country might be consuming it. There is no standard on EtO in CODEX. A number of countries have not defined MRL for 2-Chloroethanol,” an official said.

Government officials explained that regulations around EtO are still evolving and the test methods globally are also not harmonised. “The way EtO is tested, it varies from country to country. There is no unanimity among experts to measure EtO. During Covid-19, there were different tests but there were false positives too. The European food safety agency has still not concluded that 2-Chloroethanol has toxicity,” the official added. Explaining why regulations cannot be undertaken in a widespread manner, an official said that regulation has a cost involved and impacts the ease of doing business and cost of doing business too. “Regulation may not be required for various countries. Lot of my destinations may not impose such requirements. EtO requirement is varying from 0.1 to 7 ppm. There is a 70 fold difference. Regulations are taken up where there is settlement of benchmark, where we feel that there are predominant exports, and there is a need to give some sort of trust. For EtO also we are doing only for the EU,” the official added.

In 2023-24, India’s spice exports totalled $4.25 billion against 3.7 billion in 2022-23. India’s exports account for a 12 per cent share of the global spice exports. The major spices exported from India include chilli powder, which topped the list with $1.3 billion in exports, followed by cumin at $550 million, turmeric at $220 million, cardamom at $130 million, mixed spices at $ 110 million, and spice oils and oleoresins at $1 billion.