Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) recently launched an investigation into alleged norm violations in branded spices. Now, FSSAI plans to monitor other food items such as fortified rice, dairy products and spices sold in the domestic market. According to sources, FSSAI also plans to monitor food items such as fruits and vegetables, salmonella in fish products, spices and herbs, fortified rice and milk and dairy products. They are already collecting samples of powdered spices of all brands including MDH and Everest, from across the country as Singapore and Hong Kong have raised quality concerns.
“In view of the current development, the FSSAI is collecting samples of spices of all brands, including MDH and Everest, from the market to check whether they conform to FSSAI norms,” a source said on April 22.
The FSSAI does not regulate the quality of exported spices, sources said. Earlier last month, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) in Hong Kong had asked consumers not to buy Madras Curry Powder, Everest Fish Curry Masala, MDH Sambhar Masala Mixed Masala Powder and MDH Curry Powder Mixed Masala Powder and asked traders not to sell them.
The CFS had said that the pesticide ethylene oxide was found in samples of several types of pre-packaged spice mixes of two Indian brands.
The Singapore Food Authority has also ordered a recall of these spices. Following the Hong Kong directive, the Singapore Food Authority (SFA) also ordered the recall of ‘Everest Fish Curry Masala’ imported from India.
Last week, the FSSAI said it was in the process of collecting samples of Nestle’s Cerelac baby cereal across India following global reports that the company had added higher levels of sugar to the product.
According to sources, FSSAI is conducting several India-wide surveillance of various food products to assess the level of compliance with the applicable regulations.
The number of samples analysed in the last few years has increased significantly from 1,07,829 in 2020-21 to more than 4,51,000 in 2023-24, an increase of more than three times. In 2020-21, 1,07,829 samples were analysed and 28,347 samples were found non-compliant. In 2021-22, 1,44,345 samples were analysed and 32,934 were found non-compliant.
In 2022-23, 1,77,511 samples were analysed and 44,626 were found non-compliant. In the last financial year, 4,51,296 samples were analysed.
The increase in cases initiated and convictions shows the efforts of the concerned food safety authorities in enforcing the FSS Act 2006.
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