Indian Spices Face Heat Over Global Safety Concerns

India has emerged as a global spice powerhouse. It exports more than 200 spices and value-added products to some 180 countries, worth $4 billion, the Spices Board of India says.

Concerns are emerging regarding the safety of these renowned spices.

The domestic market alone is worth a staggering $10 billion, making it the world's largest consumer of spices, Soutik Biswas reported for BBC News.

However, concerns are emerging regarding the safety of these renowned spices. Last month, Singapore and Hong Kong halted sales of some spices produced by Indian companies MDH and Everest over suspected elevated levels of ethylene oxide, a cancer-causing pesticide.

That's not all. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is also investigating products from the two popular brands for potentially containing the pesticide, an FDA spokesperson told Reuters.

An analysis done by the news agency of the US regulatory data found that since 2021, an average of 14.5% of US shipments of MDH spices were rejected due to the presence of bacteria.

Both brands insist that their products are safe.

The European Union (EU) has raised concerns of its own, discovering the same cancer-causing substance in samples of chili peppers and peppercorns from India. Reports say that the Maldives, Bangladesh, and Australian food regulators have also launched investigations.